U — s 


VfT^I    tv^y> 


^.tfOJIlVDJO^      ^(^OJIIVDJO^ 


1^  1^ 


54\EUKIVERiy4      ^lOSAH 


3     ^ 


AllFOff^ 


5,W[UKIVERS/A 


.^WMINIVERJyA 


^lOSANCElCf^ 


3 


^l-UBRARY|3^ 


^,\M-UBR/ 


^•OFCAllFOMj^      ^OFCAll 


<rji3nNva)i'<^     VAMMWftiv^^        >»AMv«anvJ^      ^<?aijvhi 


■ANCEUr. 


■AHCFl£r>. 

L/  CO 

■     so 


^1-UBRARYQa 


^OFCAUF(%      ^OFCAIIFOR^ 


5.    s" 


^fJUWSOl^^ 


AMFl)NIVERI/A 


^rjijuvxiii^ 


^lOSAM 


%JI3AIN 


.^WEUNIVERS/A      ^lOSANCEUn> 


^t-UBKARYQ^^       A^vSlUBR/ 


<«^OKvsoi=^     "^/saaMNiuwv 


^AoJiivDjo'*^     ^ 


^tfOillV 


^^OJUVDJO"^ 


.^OFCAUFOftfe; 


^J5l33KVSm=<^ 


1^, 


-< 


^•OPCAllFORjl^         <^5i\M)KIVERSy^ 


^I^UDWSOl^ 


.5j\EUNIVERSyA 


<rjl30NYS01^ 


%iUAINn3UV^ 


.\WEUWVER% 


vAa3AlN(l-3WV. 


^lUBRARYj!?/^ 


0jmmor^ 


^-yOJITVDJO^ 


AOFCAllfOftf^ 


^^OJIIVJJO^ 


^OFCAllFORn^ 
ft 

OS 


>&AMvaan-^^      >&AavaaiH'^ 


^lUBRARYQr, 


4^1-UBRARYQr 
S  1   Irf-^  ^ 


.ijAEllNIVfRSyA. 


^lOSAWlEl^^ 

o 


^OJIWJJO^      ^.tfOJITYOJO'^        '^iSUONVSOl'^       "^SWAINfl  3WV" 


^OFCAllFOff^ 


^OFCAllFOff^ 


^<?Aavaani'<'^ 


>OAavaaivi^ 


av\eukiverj/a 


^J^iaoKvsoi^ 


^lOSANCEl^^ 


v/sajAiNrt-JWv 


AWEUNIVERy/A 


f 


vvlOSANCEier;> 


"^/sajAiNnawv 


Photo  by  Strauss,  St.  Lout's,  taken  Ma'ch  nth,  1004 


Rummer  (Bxtttin^s 
from  3(ajpan 


W.   L.  SHELDON 


PRIVATELY  PRINTED 


TO  HIS  MANY  WARM  FRIENDS 
IN  THE 

^t.  Houii^  €ti)ical  ^ocietp 

this  volume  is 

affectionately  dedicated 

by  his  wife 

Anna  H.  Sheldon 


.»r.  o-  «^  f w  _J..  f 

LIBRARY 


"Till  each  man  finds  his  own  in  all  men's  good, 
And  all  men  work  in  noble  brotherhood, 
Breaking  their  mailed  fleets  and  armed  towers, 
And  ruling  by  obeying  Nature's  powers, 
And  gathering  all  the  fruits  of  earth 

and  crowned  with  all  her  flowers." 

—  Tennyson 


My  Dear  Anna  : 

Thank  you  for  the  privilege  of  seeing  these  letters 
before  they  are  put  into  print.  Surely  the  saying  is  most 
true,  that  what  a  man  gets  from  a  situation  depends  first 
and  chiefly  on  what  he  himself  brings  to  it.  To  those  of 
us  who  had  been  long  in  Japan,  and  were  conscious  how 
slowly,  and  through  what  mistakes  and  misconceptions,  we 
had  reached  to  such  knowledge  as  we  dare  claim  of  Japan- 
ese thought  and  character, —  to  us  there  was  something  as- 
tonishing, almost  miraculous,  in  the  flash-light  quality  of 
Mr.  Sheldon's  perceptions,  and  the  depth  and  clearness  of 
insight  with  which  he  looked  through  fact  to  idea  and  mo- 
tive, during  the  few  short  weeks  that  he  spent  in  the  East. 
It  must  be  a  little  less  than  two  years  since  the  letter 
came  from  you,  telling  of  your  husband's  proposed  visit  to 
Japan,  and  with  it  a  characteristic  little  note  in  which  Mr. 
Sheldon  explained  something  of  the  object  of  his  visit  and 
the  sort  of  people  whom  he  hoped  to  meet ;  some  of  whom 
he  already  knew,  such  as  the  Hon.  T.  Yokoi  and  Dr.  Mitsu- 
kuri,  and  others  to  whom  he  was  bringing  letters,  or  whom 
he  knew  by  reputation  only.  To  some  of  these  Mr.  Shel- 
don presented  himself  soon  after  arriving  in  Tokyo  ;  with 
others  my  friend  and  housemate  Miss  Tsuda  interested  her- 
self to  put  him  quickly  in  touch,  particularly  with  a  group 
of  University  professors,  including  Dr.  Yamakawa,  Dr. 
Anesaki  and  others,  who  welcomed  Mr.  Sheldon  as  a  kin- 
dred spirit  and  leader  in  thought.  By  the  further  intro- 
ductions of  these  friends,  Mr.  Sheldon  was  able  in  the  few 
weeks  he  spent  in  Japan  not  only  to  see  far  more  than  is 

5 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


revealed  to  the  ordinary  tourist,  but  much  that  is  hidden 
from  many  long  resident  in  the  country.  It  was  evident 
that  Mr.  Sheldon  had  before  him  one  definite  object  of 
study — the  people  and  their  thoughts  and  ideals.  The 
charm  and  novelty  entertained  him  —  the  toy  houses,  the 
swarms  of  merry  children,  the  picturesqueness  of  streets 
and  temples  and  villages,  and  the  beauty  of  early  summer 
landscape  on  the  few  expeditions  into  the  country,  which 
alone  brought  him  something  of  relaxation  and  refresh- 
ment. But  art,  history,  politics,  daily  life  and  even  reli- 
gious ideals  and  modern  progress  all  interested  him  just  in  so 
far  as  they  threw  light  on  the  one  great  problem  of  the  mean- 
ing of  the  race.  And  whatever  he  could  reach  of  fact  or  con- 
clusion was  gathered  up  in  that  great  storehouse  of  his 
brain  to  be  taken  back  to  his  people  at  home  —  his  beloved 
people  in  St.  Louis,  who,  it  seemed  to  me,  were  never 
out  of  his  thoughts.  On  the  other  hand,  I  was  often  struck 
by  the  impression  he  made  on  those  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact  at  the  University  Club  or  the  Tokyo  Ethical  So- 
ciety, or  among  the  students  before  whom  he  made  ad- 
dresses ;  an  impression  due  not  more  to  the  words  spoken 
than  to  the  man  himself,  to  the  sense  he  conveyed  of  force 
and  intense  earnestness  for  good.  Certainly  among  our 
young  girls  in  the  Tsuda  school,  with  whom  he  spent  hours 
chiefly  of  relaxation,  the  impulse  left  was  for  effort,  for 
pressing  onward  to  do  and  be  something  for  mankind. 

How  much  intimate  knowledge  of  men  and  things  in 
Japan  Mr.  Sheldon  had  gathered,  these  spontaneous  home 
letters  show  ;  how  warmly  he  was  welcomed  and  appreci- 
ated I  sometimes  doubt  if  he  himself  realized.    With  many 

6 


LETTERS   FROM  JAPAN 


it  was  truly  a  meeting  of  kindred  spirits,  a  fresh  proof  that 
the  highest  thought  knows  no  distinction  of  race,  and  a 
new  link  in  the  chain  binding  East  and  West ;  and  I  know 
that  to  many  besides  myself,  with  the  personal  sense  of  loss 
there  came  an  intense  regret  that  the  interpretation  of  Ja- 
pan to  the  West  for  which  we  had  hoped  could  never  be 
given.  In  giving  these  letters  to  his  friends,  you  are  doing 
all  that  can  be  done  to  make  up  this  loss.  They  will  go 
east  as  well  as  west,  showing  to  all  who  read  them  with 
what  magnificent  force  will  triumphed  over  body  in  those 
last  weeks  of  labor;  not  for  ambition,  but  to  interest,  to 
strengthen,  to  uplift  in  future  seasons  those  to  whom  Mr. 
Sheldon  had  devoted  his  life. 

Your  affectionate  cousin, 

Anna  C.  Hartshorne. 


April,  1908. 


***>)= 


FIRST   LETTER 

R.  M.  S.  "  Empress  of  India" 

Tuesday  afternoon,  May  2 2d,  1906. 


"\  II  JE  are  sailing  along  quite  smoothly  on  the  real  Pacific. 
It  is  as  cold  as  "Greenland's  icy  mountains, "  but 
otherwise  all  right.  There  are  six  ladies  among  the 
passengers,  instead  of  four,  as  I  at  first  counted.  One  of 
them  is  the  biggest  woman,  outside  of  a  museum,  I  ever 
saw  in  my  life.  Perhaps  she  is  going  to  an  Oriental 
museum:  Surely  she  would  be  an  exhibit  in  Japan.  Last 
night  all  the  "dumb  waiters"  (Chinamen)  appeared  at 
dinner  dressed  in  long  starched  white  nightgowns  right  to 
their  heels.  This  morning  they  had  on  sky-blue  night- 
gowns of  the  same  pattern.  We  have  breakfast  at  9 
o'clock,  bouillon  and  sandwiches  at  11,  lunch  at  i,  tea 
and  biscuits  at  4.30,  and  dinner  at  7.  Whether  they 
serve  supper  at  10  I  do  not  know,  as  I  went  to  bed  at  9. 
The  articles  on  the  menu  are  numbered,  and  you  give  the 
numbers.  But  it  does  not  always  work.  This  morning  I 
ordered  number  31  (jam  tart).  He  brought  me  cold 
tongue.  I  ate  the  tongue,  and  then  ordered  31  again,  but 
again  came  more  tongue.  That  was  too  much.  The 
passengers  are  not  exciting.  There  is  one  "  Excellency  " 
(an  ex-Japanese  minister  to  Brazil),  various  business  men, 
but  apparently  no  missionary.  A  newspaper  man  asked 
me  to  say  what  /  was.  I  told  him  I  was  really  too  tired 
to  explain.       Have   "The  Jungle"    along  to  read  for  a 

9 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


cheerful  diversion.  It  has  been  recommended  as  an  anti- 
dote for  sea-sickness.  It  makes  you  feel  so  miserable  in 
mind  you  forget  the  other  sensations.  It  sustains  its  repu- 
tation. Have  tried  to  find  some  one  to  play  whist,  but  no 
one  seems  to  play  cards  of  any  kind.  They  just  smoke 
pipes.  I  took  some  good  pictures  at  Banff.  Will  try  to 
print  some  on  deck  to  send  you.  We  stopped  at  Victoria 
about  midnight.  I  was  in  my  berth,  but  I  thought  the 
whole  Chinese  Empire  was  in  disruption.  I  never  heard 
such  a  racket.  The  Chinese  voices  are  fearful  when  they 
are  excited.  There  is  a  good  library  on  board,  but  I  feel 
too  tired  yet  to  read.  I  am  sitting  here  in  the  corner  of 
the  smoking-room  writing.  The  steerage  Chinese  have 
disappeared.  I  hear  they  will  not  come  on  deck  again  till 
we  strike  land.  Am  thinking  of  getting  out  my  winter 
overcoat  to-morrow. 

May  23. 

Did  I  tell  you  that  we  had  quail-on-toast  the  first  day 
at  lunch  ?  They  came  from  China.  I  knew  they  had 
come  from  a  "distance,"  without  the  "enchantment." 
The  weather  has  changed.  Rain  and  a  little  rough. 
Great  excitement  walking  the  deck  ;  passed  a  small 
steamer,  probably  for  Alaska.  Have  been  watching  the 
gulls,  trying  to  make  out  how  they  fly.  The  table  is  good, 
all  but  the  coffee,  which  is  vile.  I  like  these  Chinese  stew- 
ards, they  make  so  little  noise.  Well,  I  had  breakfast  at 
8.30,  bouillon  at  II,  and  now  at  12.30  am  as  hungry  as  a 
bear.  A.  C.  H.  writes  she  will  meet  me  if  we  get  in  on 
Sunday,  but  not  if  on  Monday.      Next  week  we  skip  a 

10 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


day.  This  vessel  does  not  shake  like  Atlantic  steamers, 
but  it  rolls.  Am  writing  in  the  smoking-room  again. 
The  passengers  are  a  fearfully  serious  lot  of  people.  There 
is  not  even  a  poker-player  among  them.  But  they  grow 
interesting.  Our  "  Doctor  "  always  takes  the  curry  dish 
at  dinner.  I  did  it  last  night.  Won't  do  it  again.  Too 
much  night-mare  in  the  rice.  But  the  puddings  they  give 
are  enough  to  entice  one  all  the  way  to  the  Pacific.  We 
are  due  in  Japan  a  week  from  next  Sunday. 

Friday,  the  25  th. 
Oh  for  one  good  hot  day  with  a  warm  south  wind,  so 
that  I  could  get  my  feet  warm.  The  sun  shines,  and  I  wear 
my  winter  overcoat,  but  my  fingers  are  stiff  with  the  cold. 
The  only  time  I  am  thoroughly  comfortable  is  in  bed,  or 
in  a  hot  bath.  Yesterday  evening  we  all  had  flowers  at 
our  places.  It  was  Empress  Day.  My  journalist  acquaint- 
ance asked  me  the  other  evening  if  I  had  ever  heard  of 
the  "Ethical  Culture  Movement."  I  said,  "Yes,  some- 
thing." "Well,"  he  said,  "I  know  all  about  it."  "So!" 
I  said.  "  Yes,"  he  went  on.  "  It  consists  of  a  school  of 
men  led  by  Felix  Adler."  I  looked  a  little  surprised.  I 
said  I  had  the  impression  they  were  not  a  school,  but  each 
independent.  "  No,"  he  said,  "  not  at  all ;"  they  were  a 
school,  and  thoroughly  organized,  with  societies  in  Boston, 
Chicago,  Pittsburg,  Philadelphia,  etc,  "But,"  I  re- 
marked, "I  had  the  impression  they  had  no  definite 
creed."  "Oh  yes,  they  have,"  he  said;  and  then  he 
went  on  to  tell  me  what  the  creed  was.  He  said  Felix 
Adler  was  a   Jew,   and  a  good    many    Jews  were    in    it. 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


"Yes,"  I  answered,  "so  I  understand."  It  was  all 
highly  instructive.  I  feel  quite  posted  now  on  the  school 
of  "Ethical  Guitarists."  Surely,  for  imparting  knowl- 
edge (?)  to  the  world,  a  journalist  deserves  the  prize.  The 
poker  crowd  have  appeared.  They  play  in  the  doctor's 
room.  Have  played  whist,  shuffleboard,  quoits,  etc.; 
also  have  reread  "  Huckleberry  Finn  "  and  "The  Rudder 
Grangers  Abroad. "  It  is  great  fun  to  see  the  Japanese 
play  cards.  They  have  such  a  jolly  time  over  it.  I  can- 
not get  used  to  calling  "  Boy"  for  steward,  but  it  is  the 
regular  way.  The  sea  is  very  smooth.  Everybody  is  on 
deck,  trying  to  keep  warm.  The  two  stately  Chinamen 
have  not  warmed  up  yet.  I  hope  they  will  thaw  before 
the  voyage  is  over.  Have  seen  "  Mother  Carey's  Chick- 
ens, ' '  but  no  whales.  At  Vancouver  I  saw  some  black 
gulls.      I  never  saw  the  like  before. 

Sunday,  May  27th. 
Have  just  been  out  watching  land  on  the  horizon.  We 
are  right  in  the  middle  of  the  Pacific.  But  it  is  land,  nev- 
ertheless. Snow-clad  mountains  that  suggest  Arctic  re- 
gions. My  fingers  were  stiff  with  the  cold  as  I  watched 
them.  The  sunshine  up  here , at  latitude  52°  is  not  any 
good.  It  is  the  Eleutian  Islands  we  have  sighted.  You 
can  find  them  on  the  map.  To-morrow  we  shall  begin  to  go 
down  hill  (I  mean  Tuesday — there  is  not  going  to  be  any  to- 
morrow). "  No  Monday  at  all?  "  I  asked  my  young  lady 
neighbor.  "What  about  washday,  and  the  maid's  day 
out  the  latter  part  of  the  week  ?  Things  will  be  all  mixed 
up."      She  said  I  was  quite  up  on  housekeeping  affairs. 

12 


LETTERS    FROM   JAPAN 


By  the  way,  she  brought  her  father  out  to  dinner  last  night 
in  full  evening  dress.  He  looked  very  uncomfortable,  as 
if  he  was  yearning  for  his  game  of  poker.  He  is  better  off 
in  his  other  clothes.  Cow-boy  style,  he  is  suggestive  of 
the  cattle-ranches  of  the  Canadian  Pacific.  We  saw  some 
whales  spout  yesterday,  quite  near.  I  had  never  seen  that 
before.  But  the  most  curious  thing  is  to  see  "  Mother 
Carey's  Chickens"  literally  swim  on  the  water.  Last 
evening  we  would  overtake  them  apparently  asleep  on  the 
water,  and  they  would  scoot,  leaving  a  wake  behind  them, 
just  like  little  boats,  seemingly  using  their  wings  for 
paddles.  On  Friday  afternoon  we  had  great  excitement. 
We  were  having  afternoon  tea  when  the  fire-alarm  sounded. 
All  the  Chinese  "boys"  rushed  pell-mell  up  the  gang- 
way, and  we  after  them.  Then  they  stood  in  line  holding 
buckets,  while  the  sailors  were  rushing  wildly  around, 
knocking  the  lifeboats  loose  from  their  chains.  (I  hear  it 
said  the  boats  are  full  of  holes,  and  would  sink  at  once  if 
they  fell  into  the  water).  The  Chinamen  seemed  to  be 
enjoying  the  excitement  hugely.  The  cook  was  there  from 
the  galley  in  his  dirty  apron  along  with  the  rest.  It  was 
all  only  make-believe,  and  they  knew  it. 

Am  writing  in  the  library,  the  one  comfortable  spot  in 
the  vessel.  Have  been  reading  A.  C.  H.'s  books  on 
Japan,  which  grow  more  interesting  as  I  get  nearer  Japan. 
Have  talked  some  with  the  Japanese.  My  journalist  ac- 
quaintance hates  them  all,  root  and  branch  (for  commer- 
cial reasons).  The  Englishmen  are  getting  up  "  sweeps" 
and  "pools,"  as  usual.  These  smaller  vessels  have  no 
vibration  ;  it  is  much   pleasanter  than   on   the   big   ones. 

13 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


Sitting  here,  you  would  not  know  the  boat  was  moving  at 
all.  Should  like  to  see  a  daily  paper.  Wonder  what 
Kaiser  VVilhelm  and  Roosevelt  are  up  to  just  now.  .  .  . 
By  the  way,  I  actually  got  off  a  joke  yesterday.  My 
Englishman  (from  Shanghai)  was  speaking  of  the  old- 
fashioned  greenback,  and  said  it  was  a  * '  thing  of  beauty' ' 
and  a  "joy  forever."  I  added,  "  No,  not  a  joy  forever." 
It  brought  down  the  whole  table. 

Tuesday,  May  29th. 
English  propriety  held  up  till  the  middle  of  yesterday 
afternoon — some  of  it  even  went  to  church,  but  by  three 
o'clock  it  had  settled  down  to  bridge  again.  We  were 
watching  snowy  peaks  and  gorges  of  the  Eleutian  Islands 
all  day  yesterday.  My,  but  they  did  look  cold  !  I  no- 
ticed the  thermometer  as  it  came  out  of  the  water  yester- 
day. It  was  37°  Fahrenheit.  That  has  been  the  average. 
The  last  of  the  peaks  (6,000  feet  high)  we  passed  just  be- 
fore sunset  in  the  evening.  But  we  shall  see  no  icebergs. 
They  never  come  south  of  the  Eleutian  Islands ;  so  the 
mariner  never  has  that  anxiety  on  the  Pacific.  We  are 
starting  southwest  now,  I  believe.  It  seems  to  be  settled 
that  we  shall  arrive  Monday  morning.  They  could  arrive 
Sunday,  but  it  costs  more,  for  some  reason,  for  the  ship  to 
land  on  Sunday.  I  am  ready  for  Japan.  I  sigh  for  a  bed 
to  sleep  in.  Hope  I  can  get  one  there.  If  you  hear  me 
calling  out  to  a  table-waiter  when  1  get  back  "  Boy  ! 
Boy!"  do  not  be  alarmed.  But  the  hand  clapping  to 
emphasize  it  I  have  not  yet  adopted.  By  the  time  that 
this  letter  is  ended,  you  will  wish  you  had  not  given  me 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


this  pen,  I  fear.     It  is  easy  to  write  when  there  is  nothing 
else  to  do. 

Wednesday,  May  30th. 
Am  keeping  better  track  of  the  days  now,  as  we  are 
on  the  "  home  stretch."  I  feel  more  refreshed  this  morn- 
ing than  at  any  time  since  leaving  St.  Louis,  and  so  I  am 
ready  for  Japan.  I  asked  the  doctor  yesterday  how  often 
these  Chinamen  shave  the  fronts  of  their  heads.  He  said 
about  once  a  week.  It  makes  them  look  as  if  they  wore 
wigs.  I  was  playing  quoits  with  a  young  Japanese  yester- 
day, who  has  been  in  Europe  for  seven  years,  and  is  now 
returning  home.  He  is  the  greatest  dude  on  the  vessel. 
You  ought  to  see  the  stunning  trousers  he  wears.  I  think 
he  must  have  them  pressed  every  day  (you  can  get  that 
done  on  board,  if  you  wish).  About  the  most  interesting 
person  among  the  passengers  is  an  Englishman  who  has 
been  in  the  East  for  twenty-four  years,  living  in  various 
places  as  manager  for  a  bank.  He  was  telling  about  Java, 
where  he  was  stationed  for  seven  years.  He  said  once  in 
a  great  while  in  the  winter,  in  the  night,  the  thermometer 
would  drop  down  to  74°  or  73°  Fahrenheit,  and  then 
everybody  would  say  how  delightfully  cool  the  night  had 
been,  and  how  they  had  been  obliged  to  pull  up  the 
blankets.  He  was  telling  how,  on  the  warm  nights,  he 
would  have  a  man  "  pulling"  a  fan  over  him  all  night 
(something  like  the  fan  we  saw  in  Gilette's  play,  "The 
Admirable  Crichton").  He  is  very  fond  of  reading,  es- 
pecially poetry,  his  favorite  poet  being  Milton.  He  knows 
lots  of  "  Comus"  and   "Paradise  Lost"  by  heart.      Now 

IS 


LETTERS    FROM    JAPAN 


he  is  established  in  Yokohama.  My  Canadian  young  lady 
neighbor  has  plenty  of  attention.  I  fancy  she  yearns  for 
a  game  of  poker,  but  is  afraid  to  say  so.  She  is  taller 
than  I  am,  by  the  way,  though  considerably  more  slender, 
with  a  brilliant  complexion  (natural),  but  her  normal  place 
is  on  the  plains,  riding  a  steed  bareback.  Have  lost  all 
track  of  what  time  it  is  in  Philadelphia  —  or  day  of  the 
week,  for  that  matter.  Am  wearing  two  pairs  of  socks, 
and  it  is  a  great  improvement. 

Thursday. 
I  asked  my  Jap  * '  dude  * '  yesterday,  when  walking 
with  him,  whether  he  would  not  find  it  hard  to  go  back  to 
the  custom  of  sitting  on  the  floor  ;  he  said  yes,  he  would, 
especially  as  there  were  various  ways  of  doing  it.  But  he 
said  he  thought  it  was  still  the  custom  of  the  home-life  of 
Japan.  We  were  talking  German  part  of  the  time,  as  he 
understands  that  better  than  English,  having  lived  in 
Munich  five  years.  My  stately  Chinaman  cannot  thaw 
out,  even  if  he  does  wear  the  American  shoes.  He  seems 
to  talk  only  his  mother  tongue.  My  "  boy"  brought  me 
my  coffee  this  morning  at  6.30,  without  my  ringing.  He 
is  learning  my  ways.  So  with  my  table  "boy."  The 
journalist  was  telling  how  yesterday  he  had  left  two  gold 
pieces  of  $20  each  under  his  pillow  till  noon.  There  they 
were,  however,  perfectly  safe.  He  said  he  would  feel  just 
the  same  about  his  "  boy"  in  Shanghai.  But  he  did  own 
that  his  fat  bedroom  "boy"  had  been  trying  the  contents 
of  his  whisky-flask  —  but  then  he  had  made  the  mistake  of 
treating   the   "boy"   at  the    beginning.      We  sat  at  the 

16 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


dinner-table  for  half  an  hour,  some  of  us,  swapping  stories. 
Well,  we  are  getting  near  the  shores  of  Asia.  In  this 
whole  voyage,  I  do  not  think  we  go  more  than  500  miles 
from  land.  We  average  about  250  knots  a  day.  My 
stock  of  winter  clothes  is  getting  low.  The  weather  must 
change.  I  should  like  a  bed  six  feet  wide,  with  elegant 
linen  sheets,  a  mattress  that  cost  $150,  and  springs  that 
cost  $200,  and  pillows  to  match,  to  sleep  and  roll  around 
in  for  a  week. 

Friday,  June  ist. 
We  may  get  in  on  Sunday,  after  all.  There  was  some 
mistake  about  what  the  doctor  said  concerning  extra  ex- 
pense to  the  ship  in  landing  that  day.  The  only  ex- 
citement yesterday  was  the  fog-whistle,  and  the  fact  that 
we  changed  to  spring  overcoats.  There  has  been  little  or 
no  sunshine  all  the  way  over.  I  tried  to  print  a  picture 
one  day,  and  it  took  two  and  a  half  hours.  It  seems 
strange  to  think  that  for  eight  days  we  have  not  sighted  a 
vessel  of  any  kind.  It  shows  what  a  solitary  place  this 
Pacific  Ocean  is.  A  hundred  years  hence  it  will  be 
crowded  with  life  from  all  quarters  of  the  globe.  We  were 
sailing  past  the  shores  of  Kamchatka  yesterday.  What 
odd  feelings  that  name  brings  up  from  my  school  geogra- 
phy days;  then  it  seemed  as  far  away  as  Jupiter  or  Nep- 
tune. It  belonged  to  the  antipodes,  where  men  walked 
upside-down.  Have  been  studying  these  Chinamen's  pig- 
tails, trying  to  make  out  where  the  hair  ends  and  the  braid 
begins.  It  evidently  depends  on  the  head.  The  English- 
man opposite  says  that  it  is  said  that  Li  Hung  Chang  had 

17 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


ordered  the  execution  of  100,000  people  while  viceroy  at 
Canton.  Hope  they  are  getting  after  him  ?ww.  We  had 
a  shuffle-board  tournament  yesterday.  Needless  to  say,  I 
did  not  win  the  prize.  Well,  by  the  time  this  letter 
reaches  you  it  will  be  the  latter  part  of  June.  I  can  hardly 
realize  it. 

Saturday,  June  2. 
It  has  come  !  It  has  come  !  We  have  left  the  moun- 
tain of  Purgatory,  the  region  of  cold  feet,  stiff  fingers  and 
overcoats.  We  are  in  a  Paradise  of  perfect  temperature 
and  beautiful  skies — all  in  a  single  night.  This  was  what 
1  dreamed  of,  in  wanting  the  voyage  to  last  three  months. 
The  next  time  I  come  over  here,  I  will  come  by  way  of 
the  tropics.  It  has  been  a  smooth  voyage.  The  passen- 
gers have  been  congenial  and  pleasant,  and  have  been  a 
very  good  introduction  to  the  Orient  through  my  talks 
with  them.  Most  of  them  know  it  well.  I  was  talking 
with  one  yesterday  who  had  lived  in  China  twenty  years. 
He  had,  not  very  long  ago,  made  a  trip  from  Burmah  to 
China  alone,  first  going  1,100  miles  in  fifty  days  in  a  sedan 
chair,  with  six  Chinamen  helpers;  then  1,100  or  1,200 
miles  more  by  water  on  the  rivers.  He  was  telling  how 
perfectly  safe  it  was,  and  how  kindly  he  had  been  treated 
all  the  way.  I  was  asking  quite  a  little  about  Chinese 
Buddhism,  and  what  it  meant  to  the  plain  people.  I  ques- 
tioned him  about  Li  Hung  Chang.  He  said  he  was  a  bad 
man.  They  all  tell  how  rapidly  Chinese  affairs  are  being 
transformed  by  the  Japanese  now.  It  is  blissful  outdoors 
this  morning.     It  will  be  letter-writing  day  for  everybody, 


LETTERS    FROM   JAPAN 


I  suppose.  It  is  hard  to  realize  that  to-morrow  I  shall  be 
in  Japan.  We  must  be  close  to  the  shore  now,  sailing 
southward,  though  we  do  not  see  land  to-day. 

Sunday  A.  M.,  June  3d. 

This  will  be  packing  day.  By  noon  to-day  shall  be  in 
summer  clothing.  We  saw  porpoises  yesterday.  One 
dived  right  under  the  ship.  The  sea  is  almost  like  glass. 
My  journalist  has  shown  me  an  original  poem  by  himself, 
not  yet  published.  It  is  really  an  exceedingly  good  piece 
of  work.  We  do  not  land  till  Monday  morning,  after  all. 
Have  been  trying  to  make  out  what  time  it  is  with  you. 
It  is  7.15  A.  M.,  Sunday,  here.  I  have  set  my  watch 
back  about  eight  or  nine  hours,  so  it  must  be  about  four  in 
the  afternoon  with  you,  and  yet  for  some  mysterious  reason 
it  is  only  Saturday  where  you  are.  Have  looked  this  letter 
over,  and  think  it  is  a  psychological  phenomenon — sixteen 
closely  written  pages,  with  nothing  to  write  about,  and  I 
have  not  even  quoted  poetry.  The  Japanese  begin  to  get 
excited ;  they  are  nearing  home.  Yesterday  I  got  the 
doctor  to  take  me  through  the  steerage.  It  was  a  sight  to 
behold — mostly  Chinamen.  They  seemed  just  to  live  in 
their  bunks.  Until  yesterday  scarcely  one  of  them  had 
come  on  deck  to  get  the  air.  They  will  be  home  in  about 
a  week.  Not  a  vessel  have  we  sighted  yet.  The  engine 
has  not  stopped  once.  It  will  be  twelve  days  this  after- 
noon. 

This  is  the  end  of  my  ship  letter. 


19 


-   o 


>  f 


SECOND   LETTER 

Hotel  Metropole,  Tokyo,  Japan 

Wednesday,  June  6,  1906, 

rj>         ffi        f^        r^ 

■\TI7'ELL,  I  rang  up  "  Bancho  195"  yesterday  afternoon, 
and  heard  the  familiar  voice  of  your  cousin,  A.  C. 
H.,  over  the  phone.  Then  for  the  first  time  I  felt  sure  I 
was  in  Japan.  Up  to  that  time  I  was  not  sure  whether  it 
was  a  reality,  or  whether  it  was  the  inside  of  a  picture  book; 
but  of  one  thing  I  am  positive  :  all  the  Japanese  dolls  on 
sale  at  Wanamaker's  must  have  been  shipped  to  Tokyo 
and  come  to  life  —  every  one  of  them  —  on  the  streets  of 
this  city.  I  used  to  think  those  dolls  were  exaggerations, 
but  it  was  a  mistake  ;  they  are  the  living,  speaking  reality  — 
and  just  millions  of  them.  Early  yesterday  morning  the  pas- 
sengers on  the  vessel  were  called  out  for  inspection.  The 
saloon  was  a  sight  to  behold.  The  men  were  not  dressed 
for  parade.  Anything  that  would  pass  for  clothing  was  in 
evidence ;  and  then  the  roll  was  called,  and  we  walked 
past  the  doctor.  And  so  we  steamed  into  the  harbor. 
We  had  been  watching  the  mountains  and  shores  all  Sun- 
day afternoon,  and  toward  evening  sighted  the  first  light- 
house. What  would  Commodore  Perry  say  to  that^  I 
wonder  ?  None  of  us  slept  much  that  night.  Early  in  the 
morning  we  steamed  into  the  harbor,  and  the  sampans 
(big  row-boats,  paddled  from  the  rear)  swarmed  round  us. 
Then  the  porters  and  carriers  swarmed  on  deck.  Upon 
my  soul,  the  comic  opera  was  not  in  it  at  all.     The  sights 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


and  faces  and  costumes  I  saw  in  thirty  minutes  would  fill  a 
picture  book  of  400  pages.  All  the  fantastic  genius  of  the 
cleverest  stage  managers  in  America  could  not  have  rivaled 
it.  Japan  is  a  real  thing,  and  no  mistake.  After  break- 
fast I  was  sent  for.  A  youth  stood  there,  clad  in  specta- 
cles, a  long  robe,  wooden  shoes  (bare  shins),  an  American 
straw  hat,  and  carrying  a  small  volume  on  Rembrandt  in 
his  hands.  He  handed  me  a  letter  from  A.  C.  H.  She 
had  sent  him  down  from  Tokyo  to  look  after  me.  He 
was  a  student  from  the  Department  of  Philosophy,  I  made 
out,  but  his  English  was  limited.  Everything  was  true  to 
the  books.  Of  course  it  was  pouring  rain,  and  verj'  warm. 
I  had  on  my  last  collar.  By  the  time  we  were  through  the 
customs,  although  they  did  not  even  open  my  trunks,  my 
collar  was  done  for — melted  down  to  nothing.  We  climbed 
m\.o  J ifirikis has  a.nd  hustled  away  to  the  station.  At  two 
places  I  tried  to  buy  collars.  They  had  plenty  in  stock, 
but  none  as  big  as  175^.  I  realized  the  truth  of  the  say- 
ing that  the  Japs  are  the  "  Diamond  Edition"  of  human- 
ity. Apparently  they  thought  I  wanted  a  horse-collar. 
So  the  melted  one  had  to  carry  me  through  to  the  hotel  at 
Tokyo.  By  the  time  I  had  reached  the  hotel  here,  at 
10.30,  I  had  seen  enough  to  fill  me  up  for  ten  years.  It 
seems  all  right  out  of  the  picture-books,  only  a  million 
times  more  of  it  —  babies  strapped  on  the  backs  of  their 
ten-year-old  sisters  or  sixteen-year-old  mothers,  with  their 
heads  half  sheared,  and  wobbling  as  if  they  would  drop 
off;  men  tramping  along  on  their  two-heeled  or  -soled 
wooden  shoes ;  costumes  in  color  and  some  in  no  color, 
with  hats  of  every  style  under  heaven  ;   women  in  kimonos; 


LETTERS    FROM    JAPAN 


people  going  by  in  jinrikishas ;  carts  hauled  by  men  in- 
stead of  horses  ;  streets  all  street  and  no  sidewalk  ;  shops 
just  the  way  they  look  in  the  books,  people  sitting  on  the 
mats  waiting  for  customers.  But  it  just  occurs  to  me  that 
in  two  days,  neither  in  Yokohama  nor  in  Tokyo,  have  I . 
seen  any  drinking,  nor  a  single  saloon,  nor  a  drunken  man, 
nor  any  people  quarreling.  The  hour's  ride  on  the  train 
to  Tokyo  was  really  fascinating  :  the  landscape,  the  people 
at  work,  their  costumes,  the  gardens,  the  houses,  the  rice- 
fields,  the  trees,  the  hedges,  the  thatched  roofs — it  was 
all  a  sight  to  behold.  The  rain  had  let  up  for  a  while. 
But  there  was  one  touch  of  America.  They  have  adopted 
some  of  the  advertising  methods  one  sees  between  Phila- 
delphia and  New  York,  though  fortunately  it  was  mostly 
in  Japanese.  If  there  was  any  sake  advertised,  I  could  not 
know  it.  By  noon  I  had  made  up  my  mind  that,  so  far  as 
the  mass  of  the  people  are  concerned,  this  country  is  still 
Japan.  It  may  be  Martianized  (for  ought  I  know),  but  it 
is  not  Europeanized  by  any  manner  of  means.  "  His  Ex- 
cellency' '  appeared  this  morning  in  a  long  flowing  robe,  and 
I  congratulated  him.  I  told  him  I  envied  him  —  he  looked 
so  thoroughly  comfortable.  We  had  talked  together  some 
on  the  steamer.  He  is  an  ex-minister  to  Brazil,  I  think. 
He  and  several  others  who  were  on  the  steamer  are  at  the 
hotel.  In  the  afternoon  I  took  a  rikisha  and  went  to  see 
A.  C.  H.  She  lives  in  a  very  swell  neighborhood,  right 
near  the  Emperor's  palace,  yet  neither  he  nor  the  Empress 
has  ever  invited  her  over  to  afternoon  tea.  It  does  not 
seem  at  all  neighborly.  I  told  her  all  the  news  I  could 
think  of,  and   stayed  to  dinner,    as  she   had  written  she 

23 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


would  expect  me  to-day.  Was  disappointed  that  she  was 
not  dressed  in  a  kimono,  and  that  we  sat  in  chairs  for  din- 
ner. Miss  Tsuda  was  there  also,  and  a  Bryn  Mawr  gradu- 
ate. They  looked  really  Japanese,  and  we  had  a  jolly 
time.  I  asked  them  if  the  potatoes  were  "  dwarfed  "  po- 
tatoes, like  the  trees.  They  said  no,  and  wanted  to  know 
if  I  had  never  seen  new  potatoes.  We  had  lots  of  fun 
over  some  images  of  a  certain  blind  "  Wish  God."  You 
promise  him  one  eye,  and  he  will  give  you  a  wish.  Then 
you  put  in  an  eye,  and  he  will  give  you  another  wish  for 
the  sake  of  getting  his  other  eye  (one  of  the  images,  how- 
ever, had  lost  part  of  his  nose  from  the  ferocity  of  the 
rats).  It  all  seemed  highly  idolatrous.  But  the  bob-tailed 
white  kitten  A.  C.  H.  was  petting  was  a  real  thing,  and 
quite  according  to  Chamberlin  and  the  Guide  Book.  I 
had  read  about  them.  A.  C.  H.'s  house,  however,  is 
quite  American.  Miss  Tsuda' s  house  was  quite  like  her 
kimono — screens,  mats  and  all.  I  do  like  their  wooden 
shoes,  and  I  wish  I  could  import  them  for  street  crossings 
at  home.  Then  I  came  in  a  rickisha,  with  the  man  in 
front  jogging  along  holding  his  paper  lantern.  Once  it 
went  out,  and  he  had  to  stop  to  light  it.  I  slept  soundly 
for  eight  hours  last  night,  and  in  consequence  felt  this 
A.  M.  as  if  I  had  taken  two  gallons  of  cheap  whisky  the 
last  few  days.  It  was  a  fearful  reaction  after  the  voyage. 
To-day  I  have  just  traveled  the  streets  and  watched  the 
people.  Oh,  the  sights  one  sees  !  I  walked  the  whole 
length  of  the  great  street,  the  "Ginza. "  One  place  I 
saw  the  printed  sign,  "  Tranks  and  Bags  for  Sale."  It 
was  English  as  she  is  Japped.      But  it  was  the  people  I 

24 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


kept  looking  at.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  whole  populace 
lived  by  just  shopping  from  one  another.  There  are  shops 
by  the  million.  I  went  out  this  afternoon  to  take  some 
pictures,  especially  of  children.  The  youngsters  enjoyed 
it  hugely.  They  would  group  in  bunches  for  me,  or  stand 
in  rows  ;  but  it  was  hard  to  make  them  stand  still.  Have 
seen  goldfish  and  dwarf  trees,  but  I  do  not  see  any  fans.  I 
thought  every  Jap  man  or  woman  always  carried  a  fan, 
winter  and  summer,  day  and  night.  I  asked  A.  C.  H. 
about  it.  She  said  the  weather  for  fans  had  not  arrived 
yet.  Judging  from  the  way  my  collar  melted  the  first 
morning,  I  thought  it  had.  In  some  things  the  comic 
opera  is  misleading,  evidently.  Then,  too,  I  have  not 
seen  any  Japanese  bead  curtains  as  yet.  I  went  to  the 
bank  and  got  some  money,  and  left  my  watch  and  chain 
in  their  keeping.  I  bought  a  new  watch  for  $2.50.  This 
morning's  paper  says  there  are  8,000  Chinese  students  in 
Japan  (but  it  gently  hinted  that  they  are  a  troublesome 
lot).  Had  an  amusing  time  taking  pictures  —  street  scenes. 
The  people  seemed  quite  to  enjoy  it.  The  market  was  im- 
mensely interesting  and  picturesque  —  mostly  fruits  and 
vegetables.  Last  night  I  suddenly  felt  the  bed  tipping  up 
sideways.  It  was  an  awful  sensation.  Then  I  remem- 
bered that  A.  C.  H.  had  said  they  were  having  earth- 
quakes now  every  week  or  two.  I  said  to  myself  I  did 
not  want  any  more  earthquakes,  in  Japan  or  anywhere 
else.  But  this  morning,  after  mature  reflection,  I  realized 
it  was  not  that,  but  something  I  had  eaten  for  dinner. 
So  I  do  want  to  feel  one  real  earthquake,  provided  it 
comes  after  I  have  eaten  a  light  meal  (which,  by  the  way, 

25 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


is  rather  seldom).  I  went  to  see  A.  C.  H.  again  this  af- 
ternoon. This  time  I  was  loaded  with  questions,  and  she 
was  primed  with  answers.  In  referring  to  Japan  she  uses 
the  editorial  "We."  I  said  that  I  should  tell  on  her. 
It  seems  that  the  reason  why  I  do  not  see  any  real  painted 
ladies  on  the  street  (as  she  in  her  lecture  in  St.  Louis,  five 
years  ago,  said  one  did)  is  because,  during  the  last  five 
years,  charcoal  paint  and  whitewash  for  the  face  have 
nearly  gone  out  of  fashion.  Verily  things  do  change  fast 
in  this  country.  It  seems,  too,  that  the  big  thing  on  the 
back  of  the  kimono  is  not  for  carrying  things,  nor  a 
cushion  to  sit  on,  but  strictly  for  ornament.  It  seems  that 
the  reason  there  are  so  many  shops  is  that  the  people 
quite  largely  make  the  things  they  sell.  It  seems  there  is 
less  quarreling  and  drunkenness  among  the  people  here, 
firstly,  because  this  is  Japan  ("We,"  editorially,)  and  not 
America ;  and  secondly,  because  they  eat  rice,  and  not 
meat.  A.  C.  H.  says  if  she  feeds  the  dog  bones  instead 
of  rice  he  gets  quarrelsome  (fancy  "Moosal"  eating 
boiled  rice.  Perhaps  he  would  stay  at  home  if  we  tried 
it ;  but  I  fear  he  would  go  mad,  just  with  indigestion).  It 
seems  that  you  don't  turn  to  the  right,  but  to  the  left, 
when  walking  the  streets.  I  had  noticed  that  other  people 
and  I  had  had  some  disagreement  or  confusion  on  that 
point.  It  seems  they  do  not  have  "  City  Hospitals,"  be- 
cause you  are  a  member  of  a  family  ;  and,  if  you  get  sick, 
your  forty-seventh  cousin  must  take  care  of  you,  if  that  is 
the  nearest  relative,  because  vaii  belong  to  his  family.  My, 
but  A.  C.  H.  does  know  a  lot  with  that  editorial  "  We  !" 
Then  we  went  down  to  the   "  Ginza. "     I  had  to  change 

26 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


my  new  watch  because  it  would  not  go.  We  also  went 
through  one  of  the  bazaars  — a  kind  of  department  store, 
where  one  man  owns  the  whole  building  and  each  man 
owns  his  own  department.  We  came  down  in  a  trolley- 
car,  and  for  once  I  saw  a  big  Japanese.  He  wore  a  collar 
as  big  as  I  do,  though  I  think  he  was  not  so  tall ;  but  he 
looked  vastly  more  important,  and  more  of  a  person  ;  and 
so  he  was,  for  he  was  a  Japanese  wrestler.  The  only  per- 
son whom  I  have  seen,  so  far,  who  looks  as  important  as 
the  wrestler,  is  the  Japanese  university  student.  1  can  spot 
him  every  time,  with  his  air  of  "  Me  and  the  Emperor." 
Am  waking  up  and  beginning  to  see  things,  and  shall  soon 
organize  a  campaign.  Shall  probably  enclose  with  this 
letter  my  first  snap-shot  in  Japan. 


27 


THIRD   LETTER 

Hotel  Metropole,  Tokyo,  Japan 

Friday,  June  8,  1906. 

*  *  *  * 

"\T7"ELL,  I  did  have  an  experience  last  night.  A.  C.  H. 
had  told  me  to  go  out  after  dinner  and  see  the  streets. 
It  was  weekly  shopping  night,  and  it  was  a  sight  to  behold. 
All  the  world  (and  his  wife  and  babies)  was  out  to  make 
the  family  purchases.  Some  of  the  streets  were  literally 
jammed  with  people.  The  ground  was  turned  into  sales- 
rooms. The  vendors  spread  their  stuff  out  on  the  streets, 
and  the  crowd  surged  along.  Perhaps  most  interesting  of 
all  was  one  street  taken  up  almost  entirely  with  flowers 
and  plants.  Verily  this  people  does  know  how  to  appre- 
ciate and  value  the  little  beauties  which  count  for  so  much. 
It  was  novel  to  see  the  display  of  goldfish  —  long  rows  of 
tubs  —  black  (coal  black)  goldfish,  and  red  goldfish,  and 
white  goldfish ;  big  ones,  little  ones,  fat  ones  and  lean 
ones ;  one-tailed  ones  and  ten-tailed  ones — each  tub  with 
its  special  price.  I  watched  one  little  girl  making  a  selec- 
tion for  the  family.  She  chose  out  three  with  the  greatest 
care,  though,  poor  thing,  she  had  to  choose  from  the 
cheapest  tub.  But  of  all  strange  things  was  the  substitute 
for  canary-birds.  I  found  cages,  tiny  things  about  four 
inches  long,  of  fine  wicker  work.  And  what  do  you  sup- 
pose they  have  to  sing  in  them  ?  I  looked  and  was  puzzled 
until  I  heard  the  music,  and  saw  them  in  the  larger  cage  — 
crickets  !  —  live  crickets  !  !     They  keep  insects  to  sing  for 

29 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


them,  just  as  we  keep  birds.  Next  I  saw  another  vendor 
with  other  little  cages  made  of  wire,  and  he  had  fireflies 
for  sale,  and  firefly  cages.  At  the  corner  stood  the  police- 
man with  sword  on  one  side,  and  holding  a  Chinese  paper 
lantern  on  the  other  ;  and  everywhere  one  heard  the  click- 
clack,  click-clack  of  the  wooden  shoes,  while  over  all  the 
din  was  the  noise  of  the  Salvation  Army,  singing  camp- 
meeting  tunes  in  Japanese,  with  the  usual  crowd  standing 
around  listening.  Occasionally  I  would  nearly  knock 
some  one  over  when  I  would  forget  to  turn  to  the  left,  but 
they  were  such  a  good-natured  crowd  —  no  quarreling,  no 
angry  tones.  I  shall  always  remember  that  night.  This 
afternoon  I  went  out  for  a  tramp  with  A.  C.  H.,  first  stop- 
ping to  take  a  picture  of  Miss  Tsuda's  garden,  and  then  of 
the  indoor  scene,  with  one  of  the  pupils  seated  on  the 
floor.  We  went  walking,  and  riding  in  the  street-cars, 
talking  all  the  time,  as  I  plied  my  questions.  Why  did  I 
not  see  any  barefoot  children?  "  Because  it  is  against  the 
law  in  the  city  to  go  barefoot.  It  is  supposed  that  one 
may  catch  the  plague-germs  by  that  means."  Do  the  peo- 
ple keep  Sunday,  or  stop  for  rest  one  day  in  the  week  ? 
"  No;  they  work  right  on,  week-days  or  Sundays.  There 
is  no  difference.  But  there  are  about  one  dozen  national 
holidays  in  the  year,  when  they  do  quit  work."  The 
''official"  world  does  keep  Sunday,  she  says,  but  I  don't 
quite  know  what  she  means.  We  went  to  the  temple, 
where  are  inscribed  on  tablets  the  names  of  the  soldiers 
who  perished  in  the  late  war — 60,000  of  them.  It  was  a 
truly  solemn  sight  to  watch  the  people  come  up  and  bow, 
as  before  an  altar,  perhaps  repeating  a  prayer.     Even  the 

30 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


children  did  it.  They  came  or  paused  to  pay  respect  to 
the  spirits  of  their  dead.  It  seemed  far  more  impressive 
than  our  Memorial  Day  festivities.  I  could  see  that  it 
affected  A.  C.  H.  very  much,  for  she  had  lived  through  it 
all  the  last  two  years  and  knew  what  it  meant.  We  passed 
almost  entirely  around  the  outer  and  inner  moat  of  the  Im- 
perial Palace.  This  moat,  with  its  walls,  sloping  banks 
and  beautiful  trees,  is  perhaps  the  most  pleasing  sight  in 
Tokyo.  The  water  usually  is  of  a  delicate  shade  of  green, 
the  reflection  from  the  sward  which  slopes  up  to  the  wall 
surrounding  the  palace  enclosure.  The  arrangement  of  the 
trees  makes  it  all  a  work  of  art.  Most  of  the  public  build- 
ings are  ugly  in  the  extreme  —  about  as  bad  as  the  St. 
Louis  post  office  —  with  the  exception  of  the  Parliament 
Building.  But  these  only  make  a  small  portion  of  Tokyo. 
I  saw  nearly  the  whole  city  yesterday  from  a  tower  near 
Shiba  Park.  It  was  curious  to  look  over  those  thousands 
and  thousands  of  low  houses,  and  not  a  chimney  among 
them  anywhere  —  no  tall  office  buildings,  nothing  huge 
anywhere.  Down  below  was  an  old  Buddhist  cemetery, 
and  the  grave  stones  looked  much  like  those  in  the  old 
Trinity  churchyard  in  New  York,  save  for  the  occasional 
lantern-like  figure  at  the  top.  This  morning  I  went  to  the 
Botanical  Garden.  It  was  a  long  jinrikisha  ride.  It  was 
a  fascinating  spot  —  not  so  much  the  flowers  as  the  trees 
and  shrubs,  and  enough  to  make  Prof.  Trelease  envious,  if 
he  could  see  it.  One  felt  as  if  hundreds  of  years  of  work 
had  gone  into  it.  I  could  see  how  they  straightened  up 
the  trees  by  bracing  them  with  poles  of  bamboo.  They 
deal  with  a  tree  or  a  shrub  as  a  father  is  supposed  to  do 

31 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


with  his  boys.  I  was  amused  watching  long  rows  of  school 
children  being  taken  through  the  gardens  —  little  things 
about  nine  years  of  age  or  less  —  the  future  soldiers  of 
Japan.  Afterwards,  down  by  the  lake,  the  children  were 
turned  loose  to  play,  and  they  did  have  a  glorious  time. 
Of  course  there  was  a  lake,  an  island  and  a  bridge.  I  tell 
A.  C.  H.  that  Miss  Tsuda's  garden  is  lacking  in  one  thing  : 
it  has  no  bridge,  though  it  has  a  pond.  The  day  before 
was  a  full  one.  In  the  afternoon  I  went  to  Shiba  Park,  to 
the  temples  and  tombs  of  the  Shoguns.  I  don't  know 
see  much  about  the  architecture,  although  they  are  in 
the  characteristic  Buddhist  style.  But  what  moved  and 
surprised  me  was  the  solemn  religious  atmosphere  about 
them.  Each  one  is  shut  in  by  a  beautiful  grove  of  trees, 
approached  by  the  characteristic  gate  —  a  picture  of  one 
of  which  I  bought  and  will  send  you.  I  had  supposed  the 
Japanese  were  not  a  religious  people.  Yet,  no  church  or 
cathedral  I  have  seen  in  Europe  has  more  of  the  "  dim 
religious  light ' '  than  the  temples  I  see  here,  and  their  lo- 
cation in  the  groves  of  trees  is  fairly  inspiring.  The  park 
itself,  for  tree  landscape,  surpasses  anything  I  have  seen  at 
home.  I  shall  go  there  again  and  linger  among  those 
groves  of  trees  around  the  temples,  just  for  the  poetry  of 
it.  In  the  morning  I  was  in  Ueno  Park,  and  visited 
another  of  the  temples  there,  also  of  the  Shoguns,  and 
likewise  saw  the  tomb.  Then  for  a  little  while  I  went  into 
the  Zoo,  saw  some  animals,  sat  down  on  a  table,  and  had 
some  tea  (apparently  at  these  restaurants  you  do  not  sit 
down  on  a  chair,  but  on  the  table).  The  tea  was  green, 
but  not  of  the  kind  that  would  keep  one  awake  at  nights. 

32 


LETTERS    FROM   JAPAN 


It  was  a  hot  morning,  and  I  did  not  enjoy  that  excursion 
much.  I  tried  to  take  a  street-car  back,  and  must  have 
traveled  all  over  creation.  However,  I  kept  saying 
*'  Ginza,"  and  I  finally  landed  on  the  Ginza.  But  this 
tea-chest  language  is  awful.  If  they  would  make  English 
print  out  of  it,  then  it  wouldn't  be  so  bad.  But  A.  C.  H. 
says  it  wouldn't  work,  because  sometimes  there  would  be 
forty  words  all  spelled  just  alike.  When  a  Japanese  can- 
not make  himself  understood  as  to  which  word  he  means 
out  of  the  forty,  he  spells  it  out  with  his  finger  in  the  air 
in  tea-chest  signs,  and  then  his  friend  comprehends.  I 
suppose  it  is  like  our  "their"  and  "there,"  only  multi- 
plied by  twenty. 

Saturday  evening,  June  9th. 
This  has  been  a  red-letter  day.  A.  C.  H.  took  me  for 
a  jaunt  into  the  country,  and  I  believe  now  in  the  beauty 
of  Japan.  It  was  out  among  the  farms,  and  ?7iight  have 
been  hundreds  of  miles  from  Tokyo.  We  went  first  to  the 
suburbs  by  trolley  and  steam  (traveling  third  class.  I  en- 
joy traveling  third  class,  because  it  gives  me  a  chance  to 
count  the  variety  of  hats).  I  asked  A.  C.  H.  if  the 
women  did  up  their  hair  a  la  Japanese  every  day.  She  said 
no,  not  if  it  was  done  up  elaborately  —  then  it  was  done 
once  or  twice  a  week.  Then  Ave  took  rikshas  and  trav- 
eled several  miles  into  the  country,  and  oh  it  was  fascinat- 
ing !  No  language  can  describe  the  charm  and  beauty  of 
the  landscape.  Every  farmhouse  was  a  picture.  It  was 
cloudy  all  day,  and  that  is  said  to  be  the  true  Japanese 
sky ;  but  it  was  all  that  people  say  of  it  and  more.     The 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


trees,  the  rice  and  grain  fields,  the  rolling  country,  the 
houses  with  their  thatched  roofs,  the  pretty,  narrow  lanes 
lined  with  verdure  —  it  was  something  I  shall  never  forget. 
Every  now  and  then  I  would  stop  to  take  a  picture.  Sev- 
eral times  we  would  pass  a  temple,  with  the  characteristic 
red  gateway.  Sometimes  we  would  stop  and  go  in  to  see 
it.  There  would  be  the  man  with  prayers  for  sale.  You 
buy  a  prayer  and  paste  it  up  on  the  wall,  and  there  it  stays 
to  say  itself  till  the  rain  washes  it  away.  But  always  there 
was  the  picturesque,  quiet,  solemn  grove  as  a  setting. 
Once  we  stopped  at  an  inn,  and  then  I  had  my  first  expe- 
rience of  a  Japanese  garden.  It  was  simply  fascinating, 
and  I  just  sat  and  looked  and  looked  till  my  eyes  were 
tired.  Of  course  there  was  the  mother  with  baby  strapped 
to  her  back  (a  big  baby,  two  or  three  years  old),  the  little 
bridge,  the  lake,  the  stone  images  of  the  gods,  the  arbor. 
We  had  tea  and  took  some  pictures  ;  then  we  went  to  see 
the  temple  close  by,  but  did  not  buy  any  prayers.  At  last 
we  came  to  the  goal,  the  celebrated  Ikegami  monastery 
and  temples  of  one  of  the  sects  of  the  Buddhists.  It  was 
on  a  high  hill,  and  exquisitely  located.  We  took  off  our 
shoes  and  entered  two  of  the  temples,  to  see  the  gorgeous 
shrines,  and  I  tried  to  take  one  or  two  pictures  of  the  in- 
teriors. I  got  a  pretty  good  one,  I  hope,  of  the  high  pa- 
goda at  the  end  of  the  alley.  A  priest  was  chanting  the 
service  in  monotone  most  of  the  time,  while  every  now 
and  then  there  would  come  the  soft  and  solemn  tones  of 
the  tower  bell.  Then  we  went  down  the  hill  to  the  village 
and  went  to  another  inn  with  an  even  more  beautiful  gar- 
den, and  then  we  had    the   sandwiches  A.    C.    H.    had 

34 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


brought,  and  some  tea  from  the  inn  (and  some  of  their 
beer,  which  was  good),  and  feasted  our  eyes  on  the  gar- 
den. I  think  A.  C.  H.  enjoyed  it  almost  as  much  as  I 
did.  We  ended  the  afternoon  by  going  to  the  iris-garden 
near  by,  which  is  the  next  to  the  largest  around  Tokyo, 
getting  back  about  five  o'clock.  It  was  a  delightful  day. 
[Yet  every  rose  has  its  thorns ;  ' '  they  ' '  do  bite  —  and  a 
third-class  compartment  is  the  place  to  catch  them.] 


35 


FOURTH   LETTER 

Hotel  Metropole,  Tokyo 

Sunday,  June  lo,  1906. 

^     ^     ^     #fC 

A  LL  the  Japanese  ladies  were  out  to-day  in  high-heeled 
shoes  and  light  umbrellas.  Perhaps  you  think  they 
were  on  parade.  No ;  it  means  that  it  was  a  drizzly, 
muddy,  rainy  day.  They  have  two  kinds  of  shoes  :  one 
with  the  double  heels  about  one  inch  high,  and  one  with 
the  heels  about  three  and  a  half  inches  high.  They  use 
black  umbrellas  for  sun  shades,  but  mostly  white  (oiled 
silk)  for  rain.  The  tea-chest  signs  on  top  mean  the  name 
and  address  of  the  owner.  That  is  a  great  scheme.  It 
identifies  the  person  and  the  umbrella  also.  They  also 
have  toe  protectors  to  keep  off  the  mud.  I  went  by  rik- 
sha  to  the  museum  this  A.  M.  in  the  rain,  and  the  cos- 
tumes were  immensely  interesting,  especially  the  rice-straw 
overcoats.  The  museum  is  still  young,  but  has  some  fine 
lacquer  and  old  bronze,  and  interesting  historic  costumes. 
I  saw  some  stuffed  roosters  with  tail  feathers  over  three 
yards  long  (the  Guide  Book  says  14^  feet).  They  were 
honest  fowls,  a  species  from  somewhere  south.  In  all 
other  respects  they  looked  like  plain  Vermont  roosters  — 
but  to  drag  a  train  three  or  four  yards  long  —  I  don't  see 
the  utility  of  it.  But  I  suppose  it  is  to  attract  the  fair  sex. 
Speaking  of  the  fair  sex  reminds  me  that  A.  C.  H.  says  I 
am  corrupting  her  "  manners"  by  getting  into  a  car  be- 
hind her  instead  of  in  front  of  her  (as  Japanese  etiquette 

37 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


would  require),  or  making  her  go  through  the  gate  first  — 
but  the  other  way  would  corrupt  mine ;  so  what  is  to  be 
done  ?  We  also  went  to  the  Zoo  for  a  little  while.  But  it 
is  not  a  very  big  zoo,  and  they  protect  you  from  the  tigers 
by  making  you  look  at  them  through  glass  windows.  Not 
quite  so  many  babies  in  evidence  to-day  ;  but,  take  it  alto- 
gether, this  country  is  getting  ready  for  war  again.  Fif- 
teen or  twenty  years  hence  they  will  have  ' '  food  for  pow- 
der" enough  to  match  all  Europe,  I  am  sure,  judging  from 
what  I  have  seen  in  Tokyo.  Evidently  the  Emperor  has 
issued  a  decree  :  "No  Race-Suicide  in  Japan."  If  one 
could  just  count  the  babies  !  And  such  good  babies  — 
enough  to  make  an  American  mother  envious.  This  after- 
noon I  went  to  a  sort  of  "suburban  garden,"  as  we  should 
call  it  at  home  {Asakusa),  and  it  7vas  entertaining.  Sun- 
day afternoon  seems  to  be  holiday  time  for  a  good  many 
people,  and  they  were  there  in  spite  of  the  weather.  They 
had  everything  but  a  merry-go-round.  My  riksha  man 
followed  me  around  so  that  I  shouldn't  get  lost.  Mixed 
with  it  all  was  a  lot  of  religion  —  a  big  Buddhist  temple, 
the  Kwannon,  dedicated  to  the  saint  of  mercy,  and  the 
people  were  there  buying  and  mumbling  their  prayers  in 
the  temple  or  at  the  shrine  of  some  saint.  The  clink  of 
the  money-changers  could  be  heard  amid  all  the  din. 
This  was  not  solemn  nor  impressive,  but  it  did  suggest 
wonderfully  the  whole  paraphernalia  of  Catholicism  in 
Italy.  Change  the  names  and  the  images,  and  I  suspect 
the  mental  attitude  of  the  people  would  be  just  about  the 
same.  I  walked  into  a  Japanese  tea-house,  and  could  see 
the  people  were   having  a    jolly  time  ;    but  a  Japanese 

38 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


maiden  put  her  hand  on  my  back  and  gently  walked  me 
out  again.  I  think  they  did  not  like  the  camera  in  my 
hand.  But  I  strolled  into  one  of  the  bazaars,  and  spent 
about  twenty-five  cents  on  odds  and  ends  —  my  first  ex- 
travagance in  shopping.  These  bazaars  are  cleverly  ar- 
ranged. They  are  like  a  "maze" — if  you  go  in  you 
can't  get  out  save  by  going  through  all  the  aisles,  up-stairs 
and  down,  and  coming  out  at  the  other  end.  A  few  of 
my  pictures  taken  yesterday  in  the  country  were  very  good, 
especially  the  ones  of  the  inn  gardens.  Well,  my  first 
week  is  up.  Have  seen  a  lot  of  the  exterior  of  Japanese  life, 
but  naught  yet  of  the  interior. 

Tuesday  evening. 
I  was  out  strolling,  just  before  dinner,  along  the  river 
in  front  of  the  hotel,  and  saw  some  little  girls  trying  to 
"jump  the  rope"  —  but  it  wouldn't  work.  Their  skirts 
were  too  long,  and  their  wooden  shoes  had  no  spring  to 
them.  It  was  evidently  a  new  "game"  they  had  heard 
of.  Surely  it  is  worth  coming  to  Japan  just  to  watch  the 
children  —  these  rice-fed  children,  for  I  begin  to  believe 
that  is  the  secret  of  it.  I  just  wonder  if  they  ever  do 
quarrel.  Yesterday  I  began  to  get  glimpses  of  the  "inte- 
rior" of  Japan.  Miss  Tsuda  and  A.  C.  H.  turned  their 
garden  into  a  reception  ground.  The  whole  garden  is 
about  the  size  of  the  dining-room  at  Merion,  or  less ;  but 
in  one  corner  were  seated  about  twenty  people,  and  the 
other  two-thirds  was  taken  up  with  lake,  rockery,  trees, 
plants  and  shrubs  galore.  There  were  five  university  pro- 
fessors (all  in  their  Prince  Albert  suits),   including  Prof. 

39 


LETTERS   FROM  JAPAN 


and  Mrs.  Mitsukuri  (she  was  in  her  Japanese  dress),  Dr. 
Yamakawa  (a  former  president  of  the  University  of  To- 
kyo), Dr.  Motora  (professor  of  psychology  and  philos- 
ophy; also  Dr.  Motoda,  an  Episcopal  clergyman ;  Mr. 
Tomeoka  (a  prison  official),  and  Mr.  Sakurai,  one  of  Miss 
Tsuda's  teachers  (happy,  like  Dr.  Motoda,  in  kimono  and 
toe-divided  shoes),  and  several  ladies.  Especially  im- 
portant to  me  was  Mr.  Yokoi,  M.  P.,  an  editor  of  one  of 
the  papers  here,  a  friend  of  Weston's.  They  all  spoke 
English.  I  talked  with  them  all,  asked  all  sorts  of  ques- 
tions, while  A.  C.  H.  served  strawberries,  ice  cream,  lem- 
onade, etc.  It  was  a  novel  experience,  and  I  worked  hard. 
But  I  made  several  appointments,  and  got  my  first  start 
in  coming  into  touch  with  living  Japan.  Alas,  however, 
as  one  outcome,  I  have  to  lecture  next  Sunday  afternoon 
to  Japanese  students  and  professors.  It  will  be  an  awful 
experience.  I  told  them  that  it  was  a  serious  proposition, 
but  that  I  would  "pray  over  it."  Fancy  me  slowing  down 
to  fifty  words  a  minute,  when  I  naturally  would  speak  at 
the  rate  of  two  hundred.  To-morrow  I  am  to  have  an  in- 
terview with  the  Minister  of  Education  through  Mr.  Yokoi. 
I  stayed  to  dinner  with  A.  C.  H.  and  Miss  Tsuda,  and 
they  had  great  fun  with  me.  They  served  me  with  a  Japan- 
ese dish  to  be  eaten  with  chop-sticks,  a  kind  of  macaroni 
in  a  bowl.  I  broke  down  on  the  chop-sticks  (which  they 
all  used  with  great  facility)  and  tried  a  fork.  That  was 
even  worse.  I  said  that,  much  as  I  liked  the  dish,  I  would 
wait  to  eat  it  until  I  could  be  all  alone.  They  seem  to 
half  suck  it  in  ;  but  I  could  not  manage  it.  The  Japanese 
maid  was  nearly  convulsed,  and  so  were  the  rest.     I  asked 

40 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


Miss  Tsuda  how  she  would  say,  in  Japanese,  "a  perfect 
dream  of  a  hat."  She  said  she  wouldn't  have  to  say  it, 
because  women  here  don't  wear  hats.  Score  one  against 
me  !  This  morning  I  went  out  to  see  the  tombs  of  the 
Forty-seven  Ronins.  The  most  impressive  thing  was  to 
see  men,  women  and  children  bring  lighted  incense  sticks, 
and  place  them  to  burn  at  the  base  of  the  head-stones. 
One  can  see  how,  indirectly,  the  children  get  a  certain  re- 
ligion taught  them,  even  if  they  have  no  church  and  no 
Sunday  school.  On  the  way  back  I  stopped  at  a  fascinat- 
ing bazaar,  the  largest  and  best  in  Tokyo.  I  wanted  to 
buy  out  the  whole  jilace,  but  contented  myself  with  buying 
fifteen  cents'  worth.  As  yet,  my  only  extravagance  has 
been  picture-taking.  Yesterday  morning  I  roved  for  three 
hours,  just  trying  to  get  snap-shots  —  street  and  temple 
scenes.  The  enclosed  is  a  good  picture,  one  I  took  at  the 
inn  the  day  I  was  out  in  the  country  with  A.  C.  H.  The 
weather  has  not  been  bad  —  only  one  really  rainy  day,  and 
often  quite  cool.  Sometimes  in  the  riksha  I  am  glad  to 
wear  an  overcoat.  Mr.  Yokoi  was  in  for  a  half-hour  to 
talk  with  me  this  afternoon.  I  shall  probably  spend  three 
weeks  in  Tokyo,  as  it  is  my  best  place  to  meet  people. 
This  hotel  is  a  cosmopolitan  place,  though  it  is  not  large. 
On  the  two  pages  of  the  register  I  find  a  Russian,  an  Aus- 
tralian, a  Parsee,  an  Englishman,  a  Chinaman,  a  French- 
man, a  German,  a  Japanese,  an  American  and  an  Austrian. 


41 


■-  c 


FIFTH    LETTER 

Tokyo,  Japan, 
Wednesday  evening,  June  13th. 

'T*      '1^      'T*      't^ 

"\  TTENT  interviewing  this  afternoon.  First  to  see  Count 
Okuma,  an  old  man  of  sixty-nine,  who  has  never 
been  out  of  Japan,  but  he  is  a  big  factor  inside  of  it.  He 
has  a  beautiful  place.  Half  his  house  is  English  and  half 
Japanese.  The  grounds  cover  several  acres  and  are  a  gem 
of  gardening.  As  to  the  interview,  it  did  not  go  off  with 
a  rush,  because  the  Count  does  not  speak  English.  He 
gave  me  an  epitome  of  the  history  of  Japan  (in  sections) 
for  the  last  fifty  years,  and  an  interpreter  took  it  (in  sec- 
tions) and  tried  to  make  English  of  it.  It  was  not  very 
exciting,  but  it  was  interesting  to  watch  the  dear  old  man 
tell  the  story.  He  has  been  Prime  Minister,  and  lots  of 
other  things.  But  he  has  spent  much  of  his  time  in  being 
in  opposition.  The  grounds  would  have  fascinated  you. 
Then  I  went  to  the  Minister  of  Education,  and  had  an 
hour's  talk  with  him.  He  talks  elegant  English  with  an 
air  of  real  distinction.  Mr.  Yokoi  was  with  me  at  this 
interview.  I  asked  all  sorts  of  questions.  To-morrow  I 
go  to  see  the  University.  It  is  curious  to  find  that  Japan 
seems  to  have  no  such  thing  as  religious  education  of  the 
young,  either  in  temples  or  schools  (excepting,  of  course, 
among  the  Christian  elements)  ;  all  they  get  is  from  the 
home.  Yet  the  Minister  of  Education  said  he  thought 
there  was  a  distinct  revival  of  the  religious  spirit  apparent 

43 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


among  the  Japanese  people,  especially  among  some  of  the 
young  men,  a  spirit  of  inquiry,  as  if  they  wanted  some- 
thing, which  takes  them  either  to  the  Buddhist  temples  or 
to  the  Christian  churches.  Coming  back  I  did  see  some 
little  girls  jumping  the  rope  all  right,  but  they  had  on  san- 
dals, and  not  wooden  shoes.  Most  important,  however,  I  do 
believe  I  did  see  a  group  of  boys  playing  baseball.  They 
did  not  do  it  with  American  vigor,  for  they  were  playing 
right  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  and  nobody  was  being 
hurt.  The  other  day  I  observed  some  Japanese  students 
playing  it  in  full-fledged  style — hence  sotne  Americanization 
is  going  on  here.  I  went  out  to  buy  a  Panama  hat  one 
morning,  but  as  they  cost  20  yen  ($10)  I  am  hesitating. 
Just  now  I  am  glad  of  a  thick  hat  and  an  overcoat.  The 
skies  are  lowering. 

Thursday,  June  14th. 
Buying  a  watch  in  Tokyo  is  an  experiment.  However, 
I  have  one  now  which  has  gone  for  twenty-four  hours,  so 
perhaps  this  one  is  all  right.  It  is  number  four.  The 
dealer  patiently  gives  me  a  new  one  each  time  I  come,  and 
I  patiently  give  it  a  trial.  They  are  Swiss  watches,  and 
he  has  had  them  in  stock  so  long  that  they  are  full  of  dust. 
That  is  the  secret  of  it.  Have  had  about  six  hours  at  the 
Imperial  University  with  Prof.  Mitsukuri.  It  is  a  tremen- 
dous institution,  and  all  a  growth  of  only  about  twenty-five 
or  thirty  years.  He  took  me  over  his  own  Natural  History 
Building,  showing  me  the  valuable  museum  collection, 
with  students  at  work  making  photographs  of  microscopic 
objects.     It  seemed  strange  to  see  on  the  table  periodicals 

44 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


from  South  Africa,  Germany,  the  University  of  Chicago, 
New  South  Wales  (wherever  that  is).  Their  own  archives 
are  mostly  published  in  English.  We  went  through  the 
big  Engineering  Building,  including  Architecture  ;  then 
through  the  Department  of  Geology  with  its  museum  ;  af- 
terwards the  Chemistry  Building,  where  the  Professor  per- 
formed an  experiment  with  raditan  for  me.  We  saw  the 
physical  laboratory,  the  professor  of  which  told  me  he  had 
been  a  pupil  of  Mr.  Chaplin's.  They  make  most  of  their 
physical  apparatus,  in  a  sliop  which  I  saw.  It  was  espe- 
cially novel  to  see  a  building  set  apart  for  teaching  how  to 
make  weapons,  armor,  cannon,  etc.  /;/  tJiat  they  are 
surely  without  a  rival.  There  is  one  whole  new  building 
going  up,  just  for  naval  architecture.  Most  interesting  of 
all  was  the  Seismological  Building,  where  they  do  nothing 
but  study  earthquakes.  Prof.  Mitsukuri  showed  me  the  in- 
strument by  which  they  record  them,  and  then  let  me 
see  the  record  of  the  San  Francisco  earthquake,  all  accu- 
rately written  out  by  these  instruments,  as  the  vibrations 
had  crossed  the  Pacific  to  Tokyo,  and  also  a  second  record 
as  they  had  passed  across  America,  Europe  and  Asia,  and 
so  reached  Japan,  in  the  reverse  direction.  They  have 
Japan  all  mapped  out  in  earthquake  records,  as  we  have 
America  in  records  of  geology.  Prof.  M.  says  if  they  have 
another  big  earthquake  here  while  he  is  at  work  in  his  lab- 
oratory he  is  quite  sure  it  will  be  the  end  of  the  laboratory 
and  him,  too.  They  cannot  get  earthquake  insurance  in  Ja- 
pan, I  understand.  That  must  come  hard  for  the  people. 
Then  we  went  to  lunch.  Prof.  Mitsukuri  had  invited  Dr. 
Hamao,  the  President  of  the  University,  the  Professors  of 

45 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


Chemistry  and  Zoology,  Dr.  Yamakawa  (the  former  Presi- 
dent of  the  University,  to  whom  Mr.  Chaplin  had  given 
me  a  letter  of  introduction),  and  Prof.  Mitsukuri's  brother. 
Baron  Kikuchi,  to  whom  I  also  had  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Chaplin.  It  was  really  a  delightful  time,  and  I  thoroughly 
enjoyed  it.  The  Baron  was  a  most  interesting  man.  He 
seemed  to  know  American  politics  better  than  I  did.  I 
told  them  I  had  heard  that  some  of  the  Chinese  students 
had  left  because  they  had  been  required  to  take  a  bath 
twice  a  week.  They  fairly  roared  with  laughter  over  it, 
but  would  not  assure  me  that  it  was  true.  I  was  sitting 
in  sliding  slippers,  for  I  had  been  obliged  to  take  off 
my  shoes  at  the  door.  They  all  wore  clothes  like  mine, 
or  better,  but  they  wear  a  loose  shoe  without  buttons  or 
laces,  which  they  can  slip  on  or  off  easily.  The  lunch 
was  first-rate,  quite  elegant,  in  fact,  and  they  gave  me 
good  beer.  The  President  knew  only  a  little  English,  but 
the  rest  understood  all  right.  The  grounds  of  the  Univer- 
sity had  belonged  to  one  of  the  great  Daimios,  and  some 
of  the  original  garden  is  left.  After  lunch  we  went  to  the 
Medical  Department.  Prof.  M.  says  he  calls  it  the  Russia 
of  the  University,  because  it  absorbs  so  much.  It  does 
occupy  about  two-thirds  of  all  the  grounds,  especially  on  ac- 
count of  the  immense  hospital,  which  covers  several  acres. 
We  went  through  various  parts  of  the  hospital.  The  equip- 
ment, the  completeness  of  it  is  something  wonderful.  It 
has  600  beds,  about  half  of  them  free.  The  other  half  is 
arranged  as  first-,  second-  and  third-class.  The  buildings 
are  all  one-story  high,  for  safety,  on  account  of  earthquake 
or  fire.      I   saw  babies    freshly  arrived   on   this  mundane 

46 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


sphere,  and  one  (a  few  months  old)  which  had  7ieither 
legs  nor  arms.  Evidently  not  everyone  has  his  forty-sev- 
enth cousin  to  care  for  him  in  sickness,  judging  from  what 
I  saw  at  this  hospital.  We  looked  into  the  laboratory 
building,  where  lots  of  students  were  busy  reading.  I 
spied  Spencer's  "Autobiography"  on  the  shelves  ;  so  they 
are  quite  up-to-date.  We  went  into  the  Literature  Build- 
ing (the  Academic  Department),  where  Prof.  M.  called 
my  attention  to  a  big  announcement  of  the  lecture  to  be 
given  on  Sunday  by  me — all  in  tea-chest  characters.  It 
might  have  been  an  advertisement  for  a  new  kind  of  tea 
for  all  that  I  could  tell.  We  looked  into  one  big  room, 
where  they  are  preparing  a  big  history  of  Japan,  to  be 
issued  in  400  volumes.  They  have  been  at  work  on  it  for 
years,  and  will  be  so  for  years  longer.  I  think  some  thirty 
or  forty  men  were  occupied  there,  deciphering  old  manu- 
scripts, transcribing,  etc.  I  was  pretty  tired  when  we  got 
through,  but  it  had  immensely  impressed  me.  It  all 
seemed  so  wonderful  to  have  done  it,  and  done  it  so  well, 
in  such  a  short  time.  We  had  tea  again  for  the  fourth 
time  (tea  which  won't  hurt  one,  being  only  hot  water  with 
a  faint  greenish  flavor).  Then  I  voiced  my  gratitude,  took 
a  riksha,  and  started  homeward,  watching  the  children, 
as  usual,  on  the  way.  To-morrow  afternoon  we  have  a 
theater-party  ;  doors  open  at  i  P.  M.  ;  performance  closes 
at  9  P.  M.  You  get  a  lot  for  your  money's  worth.  His- 
toric draina  it  is,  I  understand.  Baron  Kikuchi  asked  me 
whether  I  did  not  regard  Roosevelt  as  the  greatest  presi- 
dent we  had  ever  had,  not  excluding  Washington.  I 
looked  dubious,  but  told  him  certainly  Lincoln  would  come 

47 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


first,  and  suggested  that  we  wait  and  let  history  decide.  I 
noticed  the  party  were  not  enthusiastic  over  Marquis 
Ito,  yet  I  said  in  America  we  looked  upon  Ito  about  as  he 
looked  upon  Roosevelt.  Professor  M.  said  that  there  had 
been  6,000  graduates  from  the  University,  and  that,  if 
they  were  taken  out,  it  would  take  out  a  big  slice  of  the 
new  Japan.  I  mentioned  the  "women's  university"  here, 
but  they  would  not  acknowledge  it  to  be  anything  but  a 
girls'  school.  There  is  a  rival  university  here,  a  private 
one,  the  Waseda  University,  founded  by  Count  Okuma.  I 
forgot  to  mention  that  we  went  to  the  place  where  the 
students  practice  jiu-jitsti  and  fencing.  We  saw  them 
fencing  with  bamboo  sticks.  It  looks  fierce  and  furious. 
We  also  looked  into  a  building  elaborately  fitted  up  for  ex- 
perimental psychology.  Professor  M.  had  never  seen  this 
before,  nor  the  hospital ;  which  was  typical  of  the  average 
university  professor.  I  notice  that  even  here  when  they 
want  real  tea  with  substance  to  it  they  drink  Chinese  tea, 
with  milk  and  sugar.  These  names  are  awful  to  remember. 
They  all  sound  like  "kodak,"  only  stretched  to  three  or 
four  syllables. 


4S 


«jC      tffC      ^      ^ 


SIXTH    LETTER 

Tokyo, 
Saturday  evening,  June  i6th. 


T  HAVE  made  a  great  discovery,  and  I  hope  you  will 
take  it  to  heart  and  feel  cheered  over  it  in  the  future. 
It  turns  out  that  I  am  an  exceedingly  slow  eater,  and  that 
I  take  very,  very  small  mouthfuls.  If  you  could  have  seen 
those  professors  whisk  away  their  food  at  lunch  the  other 
day  you  would  have  been  astonished.  Why,  I  did  not  get 
more  than  about  half  my  lunch,  for  each  time  the  waiter 
would  snatch  the  plate  away  before  I  had  finished.  I  hated 
to  give  it  up,  too,  because  it  tasted  good.  But  the  others 
had  finished,  and  would  be  waiting  for  me,  so  I  reluctantly 
surrendered,  though  it  was  the  best  meal  I  had  had  since 
I  had  left  America.  However,  it  was  all  made  plain  last 
night,  when  I  took  dinner  at  a  Japanese  tea-house  in 
the  intermission  of  the  theater  performance.  Miss  Tsuda, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sakurai  and  myself  went  to  a  little  room  on 
the  second  floor  of  the  tea-house.  We  all  sat  on  the  floor 
in  our  stocking  feet.  There  were  little  tables  four  inches 
high  in  front  of  each  of  us.  Tliey  used  chop-sticks,  while 
I  had  a  fork  —  but  you  can't  cut  cold  fried  eel  with  a  fork, 
and  the  pieces  were  as  long  as  my  forefinger.  The  eel 
was  good,  first-rate  (though  it  felt  afterwards  like  fried 
chips  of  red  cedar).  But  one  had  to  bolt  the  pieces 
whole,  and  everything  else  likewise.  The  soup  was  too 
much  for  me.      It  was   rank  with  fishiness.      The  chicken 

49 


LETTERS   FROM  JAPAN 


composition  was  not  bad,  provided  you  scooped  up  the 
right  mouthful.  I  even  tasted  sake,  one  teaspoonful,  but 
(low  be  it  whispered)  chop-sticks  conduce  to  rapid  eating, 
and  big  mouthfuls  of  everything  excepting  rice.  On  the 
whole,  I  really  think  the  Japanese  had  better  adopt  knives 
and  forks  (though  I  should  hate  to  have  them  give  up  the 
kimono,  and  I  do  not  object  to  their  sitting  on  the  floor). 
Take  it  altogether,  I  trust  hereafter  you  will  look  upon  me 
as  a  model  of  propriety  in  ways  of  eating.  My,  but  if 
you  could  have  seen  that  food  disappear  !  As  for  the  the- 
ater, I  can't  say  much  for  the  play  or  players,  but  the 
audience  was  extremely  interesting.  The  parquet  was 
arranged  in  squares,  like  a  checker-board.  Each  square 
had  a  partition  about  eighteen  inches  high.  There  are  no 
aisles.  You  walk  on  the  edge  of  the  partition  to  your 
square,  which  accommodates  four  sitters,  for  you  sit  on  the 
floor.  However,  we  had  a  square  in  the  balcony  among  the 
swells.  A.  C.  H.  and  I  arrived  at  three  o'clock.  She 
bowed  until  her  head  fairly  touched  the  floor  to  Mrs.  S. 
(a  Japanese  lady).  They  sat  on  the  floor,  /was  given  a 
chair.  People  in  the  boxes  or  squares  were  eating  rice  and 
fried  fish  with  chop-sticks,  or  drinking  tea  or  smoking,  but 
everybody  having  a  good  time.  It  was  intermission.  The 
performance  had  begun  at  12,  I  understand.  We  dined  at 
6,  but  it  was  to  go  on  till  10  o'clock,  I  believe.  The 
house  was  packed,  but  it  was  airy,  for  the  balcony  opened 
right  on  the  street.  Of  course,  babies  w^ere  in  evidence, 
though  they  kept  still.  As  for  the  acting  —  well,  it  is  the 
one  thing,  so  far,  that  I  have  seen  here  for  which  I  voice 
no  enthusiasm.     In   fact,  it  decidedly  suggests  the  bar- 

50 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


baric  or  the  primeval — posing,  voice  screeching,  "cake- 
walking"  —  my  ears  ache  with  the  voices  yet.  But  the 
costumes  were  stunning.  As  for  the  music  —  ye  heavens 
and  earth  and  seas  and  "all  that  in  them  is  I"  Oh  !  Oh  .'/ 
OH  !!!  I  asked  Miss  Tsuda  if  the  music  was  meant  to  be 
true  to  the  times  represented  in  the  play  (it  was  historic 
drama  of  the  Shogun  period).  She  said  no,  it  was  Japan- 
ese music  of  to-day.  Well,  it  was  not  in  keeping  with 
the  seismological  observatory  of  their  great  university.  It 
was  awful  —  just  awful — and  it  was  going  on  nearly  all 
the  time,  as  a  kind  of  refrain  or  recitative,  and  the  instru- 
ments were  of  the  primordial,  prehistoric,  primeval  type. 
However,  I  admire  Japan,  and  keep  still,  for  A.  C.  H.  ad- 
mires the  theater.  (She  says  nothing  about  the  music.) 
I  stayed  two  or  three  hours^  but  did  not  go  back  after  din- 
ner. I  came  back  and  went  into  dinner  here.  Don't  tell 
on  me.  This  morning  I  had  an  interview  with  the  Mayor 
of  Tokyo  at  the  City  Hall.  He  is  a  gentlemanly  man. 
I  asked  him  about  "graft,"  of  course.  Behold,  though 
he  talked  English,  he  had  never  heard  the  word.  I  shall 
tell  that  to  Mayor  Wells.  They  evidently  don't  know 
much  of  it  here  —  and  they  do  not  change  officials  with 
change  of  party.  He  said  when  he  came  into  office  he 
did  not  make  one  change  among  the  office  force.  He 
apologized  for  the  condition  of  the  streets.  I  told  him 
the  streets  were  spotlessly  clean.  I  do  not  believe  there 
is  a  city  in  the  whole  U.  S.  A.  where  the  streets  are  so 
well  kept.  It  is  really  remarkable.  But  they  do  have 
smells  (not  so  very  bad),  for  in  this  whole  city  of  two 
million   people   there   is   not  a   single  sewer,  only  gutters 

5J 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


leading  to  the  canals  ;  yet  it  seems  a  clean  and  healthy 
city  —  I  suppose  because  the  people  are  so  thoroughly 
a  cleanly  people.  This  afternoon  I  went  slumming.  A 
young  man  took  me  to  the  poorer  streets  of  the  city  where 
the  rag-pickers  live,  and  where  they  live  eight  or  ten  in 
one  room.  Yet  it  was  not  offensive  even  there.  I  went 
into  narrow  lanes  and  took  pictures,  with  crowds  of  chil- 
dren thronging  around  me.  They  hung  over  me  and 
around  me  and  tagged  after  me  —  just  millions  of  them. 
But  everybody  was  good-natured.  Not  an  unpleasant  tone 
did  I  hear,  or  look  did  I  see.  Everywhere  they  seemed 
kind-hearted  and  good-natured.  The  slums  were  slums, 
but  there  was  light  and  there  was  air,  for  the  houses  are 
all  one-story ;  but  they  often  pawn  their  bed-clothing  in 
the  morning,  and  take  it  out  from  pawn  again  at  night. 
But  the  naivete  of  the  people  here  is  positively  amusing, 
especially  with  the  children,  and  yet  somehow  it  does  not 
seem  vulgar  or  offensive.  With  the  little  children  nature 
is  just  nature,  and  apparently  they  are  not  taught  other- 
wise. It  does  seem  strange  to  go  into  the  Mayor's  office 
and  sit  down  and  talk  with  him  as  one  would  with  a  mayor 
at  home  and  in  one's  own  tongue.  Of  course  we  were 
served  tea.  Then  Mr.  Yokoi  and  I  went  over  to  the  City 
Hall.  It  had  the  look  of  the  usual  city  hall  at  home,  save 
for  the  garments  of  the  clerks,  and  the  "  tea-chest"  signs. 
The  Minister  of  Education  left  his  card  for  me  this  morn- 
ing, but  I  was  away  at  the  City  Hall.  By  the  way,  I  saw 
the  first  crying  child  (save  for  the  sick  little-ones  at  the 
hospital)  to-day,  yet  even  it  was  not  howling  or  kicking, 
only  mildly  wailing  as  it  was  led   past  by  its  mother.     I 

52 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


have  seen  some  ten  thousand  million  children,  but  not  one 
quarreling  one.  I  tried  to  get  pictures  of  some  of  them, 
but  the  trouble  is  that,  when  trying  to  get  a  snap-shot  of 
two  or  three  of  them,  a  million  or  more  rush  in  to  see,  and 
they  upset  the  picture.  I  got  five  nice  boys  in  a  row  to- 
day, and  they  enjoyed  it  immensely. 

Sunday  evening. 
"  Rats,  rats,  rats,"  to  buy,  5  sen  (2^^  cents)  for  a  rat, 
"Think  of  it!"  The  city  of  Tokyo  will  pay  2^  cents 
for  every  rat  brought  to  them,  and  they  get  about  5,000  a 
month.  They  used  to  get  about  10,000.  It  is  because  rats 
spread  the  plague,  and  they  are  determined  to  exterminate 
them.  Think  what  a  sum  of  money  American  boys  would 
make  if  they  had  that  offer.  Did  I  write  to  you  about  my 
trip  to  the  iris-garden  at  Horikiri,  on  Friday?  It  took  me 
out  into  the  country  among  the  rice-fields.  The  garden 
was  just  exquisite.  The  iris-blossoms  were  in  their  glory, 
and  it  was  such  a  pretty  effect,  owing  to  the  Japanese  set- 
ting. I  do  wish  you  could  have  seen  it.  I  sat  down  and 
had  some  tea,  and  the  waiter  brought  me  a  present  of  a 
fan  with  an  iris  on  it,  which  I  will  bring  to  you.  On  the 
way  I  passed  two  more  school  picnics,  one  of  boys  and  one 
of  girls,  marching  along.  Each  school  in  Tokyo  must 
have  two  picnics  a  year,  if  they  get  nothing  else,  A.  C.  H. 
says.  The  young  boys  from  eight  to  twelve  are  very  pleas- 
ing to  look  at  here.  One  often  meets^  them  with  their 
arms  over  one  another's  shoulders  in  a  pretty,  affectionate 
way.  I  have  never  met  a  pert,  disagreeable  boy  yet.  Of 
course,  my  camera  entertains  them  immensely,  and  they 

53 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


adore  having  their  pictures  taken.  Occasionally  I  meet  a 
drayage  wagon  ;  but  the  driver  never  rides  himself;  he 
always  walks  on  before  or  at  the  side  of  the  horse,  usually 
in  front.  Then,  too,  the  little  sales  carts  are  so  interest- 
ing, with  their  queer  things  in  stock — very  often  something 
to  eat.  So,  too,  the  men  one  often  meets  balancing  a  pole 
on  their  shoulders,  with  tubs,  etc. ,  on  either  end,  are  pic- 
turesque, as  they  walk  with  a  curious  swinging  grace. 
This  has  been  a  less  interesting  day.  Of  course,  the  lec- 
ture experience  was  not  exciting.  To  talk  to  people  who 
can  only  half  catch  what  you  are  saying  is  not  inspiring, 
but  I  did  my  best,  and  slowed  down  to  about  seventy-five 
words  per  minute,  spoke  very  distinctly,  and  talked  over  an 
hour  on  ' '  Our  Hopes  for  the  Human  Race.  "*  There  were 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  present,  mostly  men  —  stu- 
dents, teachers,  and  a  few  professors.  Miss  Tsuda,  A.  C. 
H.,  and  a  few  of  their  pupils  were  present.  Dr.  Yama- 
kawa,  former  president  of  the  University,  presided.  Mr. 
Yokoi,  Dr.  Anasaki  (Prof,  of  Comparative  Religions),  Dr. 
Nakajima  (Prof,  of  Ethics),  Dr.  Motora  (Prof,  of  Psy- 
chology), Baron  Kikuchi  (also  a  former  president  of  the 
University),  Mr.  Naruse  (president  of  the  "  Women's 
University"),  are  the  only  names  I  can  recall  of  those 
present.  Of  course  we  had  tea  at  the  beginning  and  at 
the  end.  Then  A.  C.  H.,  Miss  Tsuda  and  I  went  to  the 
Park,  and  I  had  some  beer.  Sunday  afternoon  is  a  most 
interesting  time,  for  a  good  many  people  do  seem  to  have 
a  holiday  on  that  day,  even  if  Japan  does  not  keep  Sun- 


*  See  Appendix  to  letter  on  page  56. 
54 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


day,  and  "things"  do  not  "close."  The  Park  was 
crowded  with  people,  and  the  little  girls  wore  such  pretty, 
bright  kimonos.  This  morning  I  went  for  a  little  while  to 
the  War  Museum.  I  was  more  interested  in  the  people 
than  in  the  exhibits.  It  was  curious  to  see  parents  bring- 
ing their  children,  or  young  girls  there.  Evidently  these 
people  are  fascinated  with  war  and  the  subject  of  war.  I 
saw  groups  of  soldiers  on  the  streets  for  the  first  time  to- 
day, dressed  in  their  dull-yellow  uniforms.  I  suppose  they 
were  getting  a  Sunday  half-holiday.  A.  C.  H.  says  I  have 
learned  more  about  Japan  in  two  weeks  than  some  for- 
eigners who  have  been  here  ten  years.  She  says  it  comes 
of  meeting  the  right  persons,  and  knowing  how  to  ask 
questions.  Here  are  my  appointments  so  far  for  this  week: 
Monday  morning,  to  visit  schools  with  someone  from  the 
Education  Department ;  in  the  afternoon,  a  reception  by 
the  Ethical  Society  at  the  University;  Tuesday  A.  M., 
probably  to  see  the  Police  General  with  Mr.  Yokoi ;  P. 
M.,  to  go  slumming  again;  Wednesday  P.  M.,  second 
visit  to  Count  Okuma  (I  forgot  Tuesday  evening,  dinner 
at  the  Friends*  Mission);  Thursday  A.  M.,  to  visit  Dr. 
Nanjio,  a  famous  Buddhist  and  Sanskrit  scholar  ;  that  af- 
ternoon, to  meet  the  Professor  of  Ethics,  who  wants  to 
explain  to  me  the  course  of  instruction  in  morals  in  the 
public  schools,  as  he  was  the  chief  one  to  work  it  out. 
Friday  evening,  to  meet  Mr.  Wooyeno  at  A.  C.  H.'s,  to 
learn  about  factories,  etc. ;  Saturday,  to  go  for  the  day  to 
Kamakura  with  A.  C.  H.;  Sunday,  to  visit  the  prisons 
with  an  official.  Whew  !  I  think  I  may  as  well  ask  for  an 
interview  with  the  Prime-Minister  now  and  talk  |iolitics. 

55 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


APPENDIX  TO  SIXTH  LETTER 
A  NOTABLE  SPEECH 
(To  THE  Editor  of  the  ''Japan  Mail.") 

Sir  :  —  A  most  interesting  address  was  delivered  last 
Sunday  afternoon  by  Mr.  Sheldon,  of  the  Ethical  Society 
of  America,  who  is  now  on  a  visit  to  Japan,  in  the  Hall  of 
the  Higher  Commercial  School,  Tokyo.  Prof.  Yamakawa, 
ex-President  of  the  Tokyo  Imperial  University,  was  in  the 
chair.  Among  those  who  attended  were  Baron  Dr. 
Kikuchi,  ex-Minister  for  Education,  Prof.  Motora,  Prof. 
Nakashima,  Prof  Anesaki,  Mr.  Yokoi,  and  many  other 
scholars. 

Mr.  Sheldon  spoke  at  length  on  the  unity  of  the  human 
race,  whilst  he  by  no  means  ignored  the  significance  of 
every  nationality.  On  the  contrary  he  laid  stress  on 
nationality,  whose  interests,  however,  should  coincide  in 
every  respect  with  those  of  the  whole  human  race.  Both 
should  fuse  into  one.  He  strongly  deprecated  the  view 
that  a  certain  race  would  in  future  become  dominant  over 
all  other  races,  and  powerfully  denounced  Nietzscheism. 
The  audience  seemed  to  be  much  moved  by  his  remarks 
concerning  a  mother  and  her  son  whom  he  saw  one  morn- 
ing worshiping  at  the  Yasukini  shrine.  He  said  he  was 
not  impressed  with  the  material  progress  of  Japan,  but  was 
greatly  touched  by  the  scene  of  the  mother  and  her  son. 
They  were  paying  homage  to  the  dead,  who  died  not  only 
for  their  country,  but  also  for  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica, for  Russia,  nay,  for  the  whole  human  race.  He  closed 
his  significant  lecture  with  an  emphatic  insistence  on  the 
so-called  ethical  trinity,  i.e.,  Truth,  Duty,  and  Service  to 
the  Human  Race.  -r,    r^ 

Tokyo,  June  i8,  1906. 

56 


SEVENTH   LETTER 


*   *   *   * 


Tokyo, 
Monday  evening,  June  i8. 


"VT'OU  may  congratulate  yourself  that  you  are  not  in  Japan. 
If  you  had  been  with  me  yesterday  morning,  it  would 
have  meant  disaster  for  you,  from  which  you  would  never 
have  recovered.  You  would  certainly  have  been  obliged 
"  to  make  an  assignment,"  and  might  have  been  in  the 
bankruptcy  courts  all  the  rest  of  your  days.  There  were 
no  "bargains,"  but  anything  in  woman's  line  from  $40 
up.  I  dropped  into  a  "swell"  Japanese  "  Dry  Goods 
Store."  Had  to  wear  slippers,  of  course.  My  eyes!  ! 
but  they  did  have  beautiful  things  for  sale  !  Silks  and  em- 
broideries enough  to  make  a  woman's  mouth  water.  I  saw 
something  I  wanted  at  once  —  as  it  cost  ^40,  I  let  it  alone. 
but  you  would  have  pawned  everything  and  got  into  debt 
forever  just  to  buy  things.  Happily  for  you,  however, 
your  purse  is  safe,  and  you  are  safely  in  America.  The 
rainy  season  has  begun,  and  it  has  drizzled  all  day,  but  my 
riksha  man  has  pulled  me  around  faithfully  for  long  rides, 
and  bows  most  gratefully  over  the  fifty  cents  I  give  him. 
I  went  this  A.  M.  to  visit  two  of  the  primary  schools,  and 
it  was  very  entertaining.  One  of  them  had  a  kindergar- 
ten, and  the  little  tots,  from  three  to  six  years  of  age,  boys 
with  their  closely  cropped  heads,  and  girls  with  heads 
cropped  in  ten  different  ways,  were  going  through  the 
same  plays  one  sees  in  St.  Louis.      In  the  other  grades  it 

57 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


did  my  heart  good  to  hear  the  little  girls  singing  real  mu- 
sic, good,  honest  rag-time,  or  some  other  healthy  jingle, 
that  took  away  the  memory  of  that  theater-music.  I  heard 
boys  sing  the  scale  as  if  with  one  voice — real  honest  Amer- 
ican scales  of  the  kind  I  can't  sing  (I  forgot  to  say  that  at 
the  Park  yesterday  there  was  a  brass  band  playing  our  kind 
of  music,  and  the  crowds  were  enjoying  it.  Miss  Tsuda 
said  it  was  "educational."  They  closed  with  the  Japan- 
ese National  Air,  as  we  were  leaving).  I  went  through 
various  classes.  It  was  all  very  much  up-to-date.  There 
was  manual  training,  clay  modeling,  girls'  sewing  classes, 
history,  geography,  reading  and  writing.  It  was  amusing  to 
see  the  little  ones  writing  Japanese.  I  wish  I  could  show 
you  how  they  hold  their  pens.  The  most  entertaining 
classes  were  those  in  English.  The  children  wrote  better 
than  I  do.  I  saw  in  their  copy-books,  beautifully  trans- 
cribed, "  Every  Man  is  the  Architect  of  His  Own  Fort- 
une," but  the  words  were  too  big  for  them  to  read  aloud. 
However,  one  boy  read  aloud  for  me  the  story  of  a  "hen. " 
By  holding  a  book  I  could  guess  what  he  was  trying  to 
say,  but  it  would  have  been  hard  work  without.  They  do 
everything  else  well  here,  apparently,  except  their  way  of 
teaching  English.  There  is  a  flaw  in  it  somewhere.  Two 
classes  were  having  ethics  lessons  —  one  of  them  on  con- 
duct between  brothers  and  sisters,  as  I  was  told.  It  was 
amusing  to  see  the  children  at  recess  —  they  play  so  heart- 
ily. How  they  did  frolic  !  !  I  wish  I  could  take  about 
two  million  of  these  children  back  to  America.  The  ma- 
jority of  the  teachers  seem  to  be  men,  but  there  were  some 
women  teachers.    Of  course  we  had  tea  at  both  schools  — 

58 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


I  mean  verdant  hot  water.  Of  course  these  children  were 
all  under  twelve  years  of  age.  The  girls  wore  a  curious 
kind  of  overskirt,  a  kind  of  bag  opening  at  top  and  bot- 
tom ;  but  they  look  cute  in  it.  I  enjoyed  watching  the 
girls  practice  gymnastics  in  the  court.  One  would  sup- 
pose they  got  enough  of  that  carrying  babies  around  on 
their  backs.  I  am  sure  I  have  seen  little  girls  of  seven 
years  with  babies  strapped  behind  ;  yet  they  seem  to  thrive. 
Looking  over  the  salary  list  of  one  of  the  schools,  1  no- 
ticed that  one  teacher  (a  man)  gets  as  high  as  ^32.50  a 
month,  the  next  one  gets  $16,  and  so  on  down  to  $8.  The 
highest  salary  for  a  woman  teacher  is  S16  or  $17. 

Monday  afternoon  was  the  Ethical  Society's  reception 
at  the  professor's  lunch  or  tea  house  in  the  gardens  of  the 
University.  Of  course  it  was  pouring  rain,  but  we  had  a 
good  time.  They  actually  allowed  me  to  come  in  with  my 
shoes  on,  though  the  rest  went  around  clink-clank  in  loose 
slippers.  I  counted  about  forty  persons,  including  A.  C. 
H.,  Miss  Tsuda  and  three  ladies  from  the  Friends'  Mis- 
sion. The  rest  were  men,  of  course.  The  Society  has 
thirty  or  forty  members  (men)  but  no  women.  Sixteen  of 
those  present  were  members  of  the  Society,  others  were 
guests.  I  met  and  talked  with  a  good  many  of  them. 
They  were  mostly  teachers,  college  or  university  professors, 
including  two  members  of  the  House  of  Peers,  one  M.  P., 
two  newspaper  editors,  two  professors  from  the  Imperial 
University  at  Kyoto,  one  professor  just  about  to  go  to  a 
position  at  Yale  as  lecturer  on  Japanese  literature,  a 
president  of  one  of  the  private  universities  of  Tokyo, 
the    President    of   the    Women's     University,     and    five 

59 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


professors  from  the  Imperial  University  here.  They 
were  all  dressed  in  English  style,  of  course.  There 
were  also  various  teachers  from  normal,  high  or  tech- 
nilogical  schools.  I  had  to  sit  down  at  a  table  and 
tell  about  the  Ethical  Societies,  and  answer  questions  for 
about  an  hour.  I  enjoyed  that  better  than  the  Sunday 
lecture,  because  it  was  a  homogeneous  group,  and  there- 
fore responsive.  (I  told  A.  C.  H.  she  is  getting  a  fearful 
dose  of  "Ethical  Society.")  Then,  of  course,  we  ad- 
journed to  another  room,  where  we  had  tea  and  cakes.  I 
got  them  all  to  write  down  their  names  and  positions,  and 
it  is  a  valuable  record  for  me  to  keep.  Of  course  I  shall 
write  Weston  about  it,  as  it  will  be  news  and  gossip  to  him. 
The  English  daily  paper  here,  the  "Japan  Times,"  has 
about  half  or  three-quarters  of  a  column  report  of  my 
Sunday  lecture.  Naturally,  it  is  imperfect,  but  could  have 
been  worse.  I  will  mail  you  a  copy  of  the  paper.  The 
worst  of  it  is  that  now  I  have  to  address  the  students  of 
that  other  university  (it  has  a  kodak  name  of  six  syllables, 
and  I  cannot  remember  it*),  and  also  the  Women's  Col- 
lege. I  suppose  the  presidents  look  upon  it  as  a  good 
practice  in  English  for  the  students,  but  it  is  tiresome 
work,  and  hard  on  both  sides.  I  pity  them  and  myself. 
Mr.  O.  cut  out  the  report  of  my  lecture  from  the  Japanese 
paper  and  had  his  secretary  translate  it.  The  secretary 
had  true  Japanese  courage,  and  it  was  awfully  funny.  He 
had  it  down  as  the  "Logical  Society,"  and  me  as  the 
president  of  the  ' '  American  Philosophical  Association, ' ' 


*  The  Keio  Gijiuku. 

60 


LETTERS   FROM  JAPAN 


and  said  I  was  fighting  "  Corruption  in  Municipal  Auton- 
omy," whatever  that  is. 

Wednesday  evening. 
Well,  I  am  just  awfully  tired.  Have  been  on  the  go 
from  8  A.  M.  to  6.30  P.  M.  (lunch  included),  most  of  the 
time  in  a  carriage,  with  members  of  the  Bureau  of  Local 
Affairs  of  the  Home  Department.  Yesterday  morning  I 
I  went  to  visit  Miss  Tsuda's  school.  The  most  interesting 
part  was  the  dormitory.  Of  course  I  had  to  take  off  my 
shoes.  The  girls  have  their  own  garden,  and  take  care  of 
it.  The  furniture  of  their  rooms  was  mostly  mats  and  hid- 
den closets.*  They  pay  $3.50  a  month  for  board  (and 
Miss  Tsuda  says  that  does  just  pay  for  their  food)  and  one 
dollar  a  month  tuition.  The  prettiest  thing  in  their  place 
was  their  flowers  in  the  cubby-hole  in  the  rear.  They  al- 
ways try  to  arrange  the  cut  flowers  as  if  they  were  growing. 
That  is  the  regular  custom  here.  I  thought  the  irises  were 
actually  growing  in  a  vase.  Am  sorry  to  hear  that  most  of 
the  girls  have  degenerated  to  American  pillows,  but  a  few 
of  them  keep  to  the  original  wooden  variety.  Of  course 
I  saw  the  classes.  They  have  benches  to  sit  on,  just  as  at 
the  public  schools.  That  was  a  disappointment.  I  wanted 
to  see  them  sitting  on  the  floor,  A.  C.  H.  included.  They 
showed  me  mostly  English  classes.  One  of  them  was 
reading  "The  Cricket  on  the  Hearth."  A.  C.  H.  was 
unquestionably  the  best  teacher  of  the  lot.  I  intended 
to  take  a  picture  of  one  of  the  classes,  but  suddenly  dis- 
covered that  the  camera  had  seemingly  taken  cold,  and 
would  not  work.     So  A.  C.  H.  and  I  undertook  to  take  it 

61 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


to  pieces  to  discover  what  was  the  matter,  and  then  we 
broke  a  delicate  screw  down  inside,  and  wished  we  had 
let  it  alone.  I  took  it  to  a  camera  dealer.  They  are  very 
ingenious,  and  he  thinks  he  can  repair  it,  but  he  said  he 
would  have  to  charge  me  a  big  price.  I  expected  he  would 
say  $io  or  $15;  but  no,  it  was  $1.  So  I  told  him  I 
would  give  him  $1.50  if  he  would  do  it  in  /wo  days  (he 
wanted  ten).  Going  along  in  the  riksha  I  met  six  or 
seven  young  girls  of  seven  to  eight  years  old,  all  hand  in 
hand,  singing  some  school  song,  and  swinging  as  they 
went.  They  met  a  boy  pulling  a  dray  cart.  He  knew 
the  song  and  joined  in,  and  I  enjoyed  it  hugely  and  wished 
I  could  help.  The  children  do  have  to  work  ,'  but  if  they 
do  have  to  pull  carts  or  carry  babies  on  their  shoulders, 
they  get  a  lot  of  fun  out  of  life.  They  tell  me  that  a  boy 
will  play  ball  all  the  afternoon  with  a  baby  strapped  on  his 
back.  Am  sorry  to  say  my  riksha  man  tipped  one  young- 
ster over  to-day.  He  was  not  hurt,  but  it  must  be  owned 
that  he  was  a  true  child,  and  set  up  a  hearty  yell.  Evi- 
dently it  hurt  his  feelings.  He  was  three  years  old.  It 
was  the  first  time  it  has  happened.  The  man  did  not  stop, 
but  I  looked  back,  and  saw  that  no  harm  was  done.  In 
the  evening  yesterday  I  went  to  dine  at  the  "Friends' 
School"  with  A.  C.  H.  It  has  a  beautiful  location. 
There  were  three  ladies  and  one  man  —  Mr.  Bowles.  We 
saw  the  school  building,  and  then,  in  shoeless  feet,  went 
to  the  dormitory.  The  prettiest  sight  of  all  was  to  see 
about  forty  girls  all  squatting  on  the  floor  sitting  on  their 
feet,  at  study  at  their  low  tables  beneath  the  electric  light. 
They  quite  enjoyed  being  looked  at,  and  it  was  a  feast  to 

62 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


the  eye  just  to  look  at  them.  Of  course  there  were  Scrip- 
ture texts  everywhere.  We  came  back  about  nine  o'clock. 
It  is  a  feast  to  ride  in  the  streets  day  or  night. 

Thursday  A.  M. 
I  was  going  to  tell  you  about  yesterday.  First  I  went 
to  see  one  of  the  baths  for  the  public  (there  are  no  public 
baths).  I  believe  they  are  all  private  (without  much  pri- 
vacy). It  was  monthly  cleaning  day,  so  they  were  not  in 
use,  and  I  could  inspect  them.  These  were  of  the  middle 
grade  —  price  i}(c.  per  bath,  and  one  furnishes  towel  and 
soap.  Of  course  the  sexes  are  separated  by  a  partition 
running  half  way  up  to  the  ceiling.  The  hot-water  tank 
is  not  big  ;  one  cannot  swim  in  it.  I  suppose  one  would 
not  want  to,  for  it  would  scald  one  anyway.  My  guide 
said  one-quarter  of  a  minute  was  often  long  enough.  He 
said  the  young  men  did  not  like  the  hot  bath  as  much  as 
the  older  people.  He  told  me  that  working  men  took  a 
bath  every  day  ;  women,  and  people  of  the  better  classes, 
about  three  times  a  week.  Either  he  is  mistaken  or  else  it 
reverses  the  process  as  it  is  in  America.  Later  I  started  for 
the  Home  Office,  where  I  met  four  or  five  younger  men  of 
the  Bureau  of  Something.  They  have  supervision  of  all 
charitable  organizations  in  Japan.  They  lamented  that 
Japan  had  only  300  all  told,  whereas  New  York  City  alone 
has  over  a  thousand.  I  tried  to  comfort  them.  They  fell 
to  talking  about  all  sorts  of  things.  I  even  sounded  them 
about  religion.  "  We  do  not  think  much  about  it,"  one 
of  them  answered,  though  they  also  said  there  had  been  a 
decided   religious  revival  since  the  late  war.      They  were 

63 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


talking  about  moral  education,  and  were  trying  to  find  out 
who  determined  what  was  right  and  wrong  in  America.  I 
said  "  My  conscience."  "In  Japan,"  they  said,  ''it  is 
the  edict  of  the  Emperor."  The  professor  of  ethics  to- 
day was  telling  me  the  great  distinction  between  teaching 
in  Japan  and  China.  In  the  latter  country  obedience  to 
parents  and  loyalty  to  emperor  are  two  virtues,  the  regard 
for  parents  coming  first,  but  in  Japan  they  constitute  only 
one  virtue.  I  asked  him,  "  What  if  you  had  a  bad  empe- 
ror?" Evidently  that  was  beyond  him.  He  simply  said 
they  never  had  had  a  bad  emperor.  However,  to  go 
back  to  my  young  men.  The  Department  had  assigned 
them  a  carriage  in  my  honor  for  the  whole  day ;  so  we 
drove  first  to  see  the  School  of  Navigation.  It  was  a  big 
institution,  also  with  a  training  ship  (which  had  once 
been  occupied  by  the  Emperor).  But  it  was  all  maps  and 
mathematics  to  me,  excepting  the  class  in  English,  which 
was  reading  Lubbock's  *'  Pleasures  of  Life."  The  book 
was  open  at  the  topic  '*  The  Happiness  of  Duty."  I  hope 
the  young  fellows  in  their  white  suits  took  it  all  in.  We 
also  stopped  at  the  Commercial  Museum,  which  would 
have  fascinated  you.  It  meant  silks,  lacquer,  porcelain, 
carving,  etc.  Then  we  returned  to  the  Department  office 
and  lunch  on  a  desk  in  one  of  the  offices.  Ye  gods  and 
little  fishes  !  I  wish  I  could  describe  that  lunch  to  you. 
It  was  a  memorable  occasion.  I  have  "camped"  before, 
but  this  outdid  all  the  camping  I  ever  experienced.  The 
Japanese  as  yet  have  not  gone  to  the  extreme  in  refined 
habits  of  eating.  Each  man  dipped  with  his  knife  into  a 
tin  can  of  butter  whenever  he  wanted  any.     There  were 

64 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


no  napkins,  but  a  thin  sheet  had  been  spread  down  upon 
the  green  baize  table  cover.  The  young  men  left  no 
crumbs.  I  was  cautious,  thinking  of  the  sensation  over 
canned  meat  now  going  on  in  America  (that  has  been  the 
only  news  from  home  for  two  weeks).  Finally  came  a 
conference  as  to  whether  we  had  time  to  do  all  we  had 
planned.  They  pulled  out  their  watches,  and  fought  it 
out  for  ten  minutes.  I  never  witnessed  a  funnier  scene. 
It  was  a  complete  revelation  of  the  peculiarities  of  the 
Japanese  mind.  Apparently  they  cannot  work  out  mental 
arithmetic  without  their  tables.  Finally  they  announced 
to  me  it  could  not  be  done.  Then  I  grappled  with  the 
problem  in  English.  I  asked  three  questions.  Decided  in 
half  a  minute  that  it  could  be  done  with  time  to  spare, 
and  then  we  started.  First  "we  went  to  a  most  interesting 
place  —  a  IVoman^ s  Industrial  School  {Y>x\vz.i&  institution). 
Hundreds  of  girls  were  at  work  making  paper  flowers, 
doing  hand-painting  of  all  kinds,  sewing,  making  dresses, 
doing  fancy  embroidery  work.  I  asked  the  teacher  how 
long  it  would  take  to  finish  one  piece  (a  peacock  design). 
He  said  "about  five  months."  They  gave  me  a  bunch  of 
cherry-blossoms  as  a  reward  for  my  admiration,  and  I  shall 
hope  to  bring  them  safely  to  you.  From  there  we  drove 
to  the  main  object  of  my  day's  excursion,  the  big  Sugamo 
prison  in  the  suburbs,  where  there  are  i,8oo  men  convicts. 
It  was  a  model  of  system  and  order,  like  everything  else 
here,  and  spotlessly  clean  everywhere.  There  were  two 
immense  buildings  of  cells  on  the  radiating  plan.  In  one 
hall  I  saw  a  most  curious  sight — two  long  rows  of  men  sit- 
ting facing  their  cells,  as  if  in  religious  devotion.      But  it 

65 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


was  punishment.  There  they  had  to  sit  all  day  long  for  I 
do  not  know  how  many  days,  fed  on  bread  and  water,  for 
unruliness.  They  use  no  corporal  punishment.  There 
are  six  or  eight  men  to  a  cell,  with  electric  light  burning 
in  the  cell  all  night.  We  went  through  all  the  shops. 
There  are  some  thirty  different  trades  or  kinds  of  work  car- 
ried on.  In  each  shop  as  we  entered  there  was  a  sudden 
call,  every  man  took  position,  and  then  every  head  bowed 
solemnly  in  unison,  and  at  once  they  all  resumed  work. 
As  the  average  sentence  is  only  two  years,  I  asked  the 
warden  if  any  came  back  again.  "Yes,"  he  said,  "  most 
of  them,"  especially  for  stealing.  How  many  times? 
"Twenty,"  he  answered.  And  so  these  people  have  not 
solved  the  prison  problem,  and  they  know  it.  They  also 
have  a  chapel,  where  a  Buddhist  priest  preaches  every  Sun- 
day. The  warden  spoke  German,  but  no  English,  so  that 
we  got  along  in  that  language.  Of  course  the  grounds  were 
like  a  beautiful  garden  of  trees  and  shrubs,  as  everywhere 
else  in  Japan.  In  the  kitchen  there  was  rice,  and  lots  ot 
it.  Am  sorry  these  people  have  nothing  to  teach  us  on 
the  prison  system.  My  guide,  Mr.  Tomeoka,  was  very  well 
informed.  He  has  charge  of  a  Home  Refortnatory  for  boys. 
That  is  up-to-date  in  idea.  He  knew  all  about  Elmira 
and  Mr.  Brockway,  and  the  system  of  the  "indetermi- 
nate sentence."  They  will  yet  have  it  here,  I  am  sure, 
for  they  know  how  to  be  up-to-date,  even  if  they  are  not 
inventive.  On  leaving  there,  I  came  back  for  an  hour's 
talk  again  with  Count  Okuma.  This  time  I  sounded  hitn 
on  religion,  but  I  could  not  get  much  out  of  him  on  that 
subject.  Well,  good-night !  1  must  get  up  at  midnight 
for  a  visit  to  the  police-station. 

66 


EIGHTH    LETTER 


Kamokura 

Saturday,  June  23. 


SfC     ^     ^     ^ 


tlERE  I  am  for  a  little  while  at  Kamokura,  where  A. 
C.  H.  has  her  summer  home.  We  came  down  this 
morning,  and  shall  go  back  to-morrow,  Sunday  evening. 
She  is  at  her  cottage,  and  I  at  the  hotel.  I  feel  like  a  boy 
running  away  from  school.  The  last  week  has  been  just 
hard  work,  and  I  was  tired  out.  We  are  down  by  the  sea, 
and  it  is  beautiful  here,  with  rolling  hills,  beautiful  pine 
groves  and  curving  shores.  We  went  first  to  see  the  great 
statue  of  Buddha,  a  picture  of  which  Miss  Bernays  gave 
me,  the  Daibutsu,  an  immense  bronze  figure,  some  forty 
feet  high,  erected  about  nine  hundred  years  ago.  It  is 
really  very  impressive  and  solemn,  situated  in  a  grove  of 
trees.  It  had  once  been  enclosed  by  a  temple,  but  has 
been  exposed  to  the  weather  for  several  hundred  years. 
It  represents  "Contemplation."  I  caught  a  view  of  it 
from  the  side,  which  gives  the  slight  droop  of  the  head  far 
better  than  from  the  front.  The  spirit  for  the  statue  really 
does  not  come  from  Japan,  but  from  far  away  India.  I 
really  doubt  whether  these  are  a  contemplative  people. 
They  import  their  contemplation  from  others.  I  do  not 
believe  the  Japanese  are  Buddhi.sts  by  temperament.  Yet 
this  statue  is  something  one  will  never  forget.  We  looked 
in  on  the  Goddess  of  Mercy  (Kwannon)  in  a  dilapidated 
Buddhist  temble,  but   could  only  see   it  dimly,  in  all  its 

67 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


rich  gilding,  by  the  light  of  two  or  three  candles.  In  the 
afternoon  I  went  to  A.  C.  H.  *s  cottage.  It  has  a  glorious 
location  on  a  hill  overlooking  the  sea,  built  strictly  a  la 
Japanese  —  a  simple  frame  structure  of  wood,  screens  and 
mats,  with  two  chairs.  One  of  the  chairs  was  gloriously 
comfortable.  So  I  sat  or  lay  there,  drank  tea,  and  settled 
the  universe  and  all  its  problems  with  A.  C.  H.  The 
house  and  ground  (which  is  leased  for  thirty  years),  and 
the  well  and  furniture,  cost  just  about  §500.  It  would 
have  cost  $2,500  in  America.  But  it  is  the  "  Simple 
Life,"  of  course.  Then  we  took  a  beautiful  walk  back 
into  the  country,  through  a  narrow  valley,  watching  the 
people  transplanting  the  rice,  men  and  women  up  to  their 
knees  in  mud  and  water.  A.  C.  H.  would  speak  to  them 
now  and  then.  They  all  seemed  cheerful  and  responsive. 
One  cannot  help  loving  this  people.  They  work  hard, 
and  most  of  them  are  poor,  but  they  do  not  seem  to  hate 
their  work  nor  to  hate  work  as  such.  I  have  not  seen  a 
mean,  disagreeable  face  since  I  have  been  here.  Even  the 
convicts  did  not  have  the  "convict  look  "  as  they  would 
at  home.  We  came  to  the  end  of  the  valley  in  a  bamboo 
grove,  and  turned  back.  On  the  shore  I  stopped  to  look 
at  the  beautiful  island  of  Enoshima.  The  night  before,  A. 
C.  H.  and  I  went  to  a  concert  by  a  Japanese  orchestra  of 
about  thirty  members,  giving  European  music.  We  both 
agreed  that  they  played  very  well  and  in  unison,  though, 
as  A.  C.  H.  says,  their  instruments  are  new  and  squeaky. 
The  audience  was  mostly  Japanese,  and  highly  apprecia- 
tive. A.  C.  H.  asked  me  if  I  had  yet  come  to  distinguish 
intellectual  from  uninteli^ctual  faces.    I  had  to  say  no,  not 

68 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


yet.  The  riksha  man  often  looked  as  intelligent  as  a  uni- 
versity professor.  She  says  it  is  partly  because  the  latter 
are  trained  to  hide  or  suppress  their  feelings,  and  it  gives 
them  a  stolid  look.  It  is  not  so  with  old  Count  Okuma. 
Friday  morning  I  went  to  visit  some  Higher  Grade  schools. 
Apparently  here  the  primary  school  is  from  six  to  twelve, 
and  the  high  school  from  about  twelve  to  seventeen  years 
of  age.  I  was  disappointed  in  the  Boys'  High  School. 
It  was  not  up  to  the  level  of  ours  at  home.  The  equipment 
was  meager.  There  was  no  manual  training,  but  the  boys 
were  all  cadets  and  were  obliged  to  wear  a  uniform  (blue  coat 
and  white  trowsers).  I  did  enjoy  hearing  them  sing.  There 
is,  however,  another  higher  High  School  above  this,  which 
fits  for  the  University,  and  that  is  probably  much  superior. 
By  the  time  a  man  gets  through  the  Imperial  University 
here  he  must  be  thoroughly  educated,  though  he  may  be 
twenty-five  or  thirty  years  of  age.  I  believe  that  less  than 
a  third  of  the  applicants  get  into  the  University  at  all ;  so 
they  go  to  other  colleges,  which  are  less  severe.  On  the 
other  hand,  I  did  have  a  big  surprise  on  going  to  the 
Girls'  Higher  Normal  School.  That  simply  astonished 
me.  A  more  perfectly  equipped  institution  I  never  saw  in 
my  life.  I  said,  jokingly,  "  Surely  the  government  favors 
the  women,"  and  that  made  them  all  laugh  heartily.  It 
is  above  the  High  School,  more  like  a  Girls'  College,  and 
is  to  fit  women  teachers  to  teach  in  Girls'  High  Schools, 
all  over  the  empire  (they  have  two  kinds  of  normal  schools, 
one  to  train  teachers  for  Primary  Schools,  and  one  to 
train  teachers  for  High  Schools).  This  school  has  also  a 
kindergarten  and  grammar  school,  where  the  pupils  prac- 

69 


LETTERS    FROM   JAPAN 


tice,  so  that  while  there  are  about  300  pupils  of  the  normal 
school,  there  are  some  thousand  pupils,  all  told,  in  the  two 
schools.  But  the  education  is  not  like  that  for  men,  al- 
though the  Science  Department  seems  splendidly  equipped 
in  all  branches.  But,  besides,  they  have  sewing,  dress- 
making, drawing,  painting,  cooking,  English,  and  every- 
thing else  imaginable.  Most  interesting  was  the  etiquette 
room,  where  I  saw  a  girl  going  through  bows  and  motions 
to  two  empty  chairs  and  various  kakimonas,  under  an  in- 
structress. We  went  into  the  dormitory,  and  that,  I  told 
them,  was  a  sign  of  degeneracy  ;  for  they  had  big  wards 
ivith  cots  (or  htds.  I  asked,  "Where  are  the  mirrors?  How 
can  the  girls  do  that  elaborate  hairdressing  without  mir- 
rors ?"  They  laughed,  and  showed  me  another  big  room, 
with  mats,  and  big  mirrors,  and  a  tin  basin  for  each  girl. 
A.  C.  H.  says  it  would  be  considered  very  untidy  to  do  one's 
hair  in  one's  bedroom.  One  of  the  head  teachers  con- 
ducting me  had  been  at  Wellesley  for  three  years,  and  re- 
turned about  a  year  ago,  a  Miss  Okada.  She  wore  Amer- 
ican clothes.  Oh,  if  you  co7^Id  have  seen  the  kindergar- 
ten, and  those  three-year-old  children  !  It  was  too  pretty 
for  anything.  When  those  Normal  girls  come  out  of  the 
school  at  twenty-one  or  twenty-two  years  of  age,  they  are 
obliged  to  teach  for  five  years.  And  then  what  if  they 
get  married?  I  asked.  It  makes  no  difference  ;  they  must 
teach.  But  what  if  the  husband  objects  ?  It  does  not 
matter  ;  he  takes  her  contract  and  all,  and  it  must  be  ful- 
filled. There  are  only  two  of  these  schools  in  the  empire. 
Of  course  there  was  a  large  and  well-equipped  gymnasium, 
but  I  did  not  see  any  swimming  tank.    I  see  by  the  papers 

70 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


that  "Mr.  Sheldon  paid  a  visit  to  several  of  the  metro- 
politan police  stations  at  midnight,  Thursday,  with  an  in- 
terpreter, by  arrangement  of  the  Chief  of  Police."  The 
papers  were  right.  I  rode  for  two  hours  in  a  riksha  all 
over  Tokyo  in  the  dead  stillness  between  twelve  and  two 
A.  M.  The  city  seemed  well  lighted  with  lanterns  or 
Wellsbach  burners.  But  where,  oh  where  were  the  ten 
thousand  million  trillion  children  ?  Not  one  in  evidence. 
We  went  to  three  stations.  They  seem  to  be  the  same  as 
in  America,  with  cells,  where  they  keep  six  or  eight  or  ten 
together.  I  saw  two  or  three  arrested  persons  brought  in 
and  apparently  sentenced  for  some  petty  offense  to  ten 
days'  detention.  The  next  afternoon  the  editor  of  one  of 
the  Japanese  daily  papers  called  to  see  me,  saying  he  un- 
derstood I  was  connected  with  the  metropolitan  police  in 
America,  and  wanting  to  know  what  my  observations 
were.  I  corrected  his  error,  but  cautiously  suggested  that 
as  Japan  seemed  to  be  almost  as  backward  as  other  nations 
in  the  punishment  of  crime,  she  take  the  lead  with  new  ex- 
periments and  begin  with  having  a  separate  cell  for  each 
person  at  the  police  station. 

Did  I  tell  you  of  my  interview  on  Thursday  morning 
with  the  famous  Buddhist  priest,  the  greatest  Sanskrit 
scholar  in  Japan,  Dr.  Nanjio  ?  He  is  a  dear  old  man, 
and  I  got  quite  a  good  deal  of  information  from  him.  He 
belongs  to  a  sect  which  allows  its  priests  to  marry,  and 
also  to  eat  meat.  He  himself  comes  from  a  long  line  of 
hereditary  priests,  going  back  many  generations.  He  con- 
fessed that  Buddhism  is  sadly  degenerate  and  formalistic 
in  Japan.     Very  little  of  the  literature  is  even  translated 

71 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


into  Japanese,  and  even  that  has  been  translated  from  the 
Chinese,  as  scarcely  any  of  the  priests  know  Sanskrit.  I 
asked  him  how  the  temples  secured  candidates  for  the 
priesthood.  He  said  certain  families  would  often  make 
one  of  their  sons  "a  present  to  Buddha."  One  can  see 
how  to  the  common  people  Buddhism  means  a  heaven  and 
hell  of  rewards  and  punishments  precisely  as  Catholicism 
does  with  us,  though  its  doctrine  of  transmigration  is  pecu- 
liar to  itself.  I  asked  him  if  he  thought  people  really 
stood  in  fear  of  becoming  cats  or  dogs  or  tigers  after  death. 
He  said,  yes,  the  uneducated.  I  was  trying  to  find  out 
what  takes  the  place  of  our  "  Thou  God  seest  me,"  as  it 
is  said  to  the  young,  but  that  is  the  hardest  question  to  get 
answered.  The  Professor  of  Ethics  said  a  parent  might 
say  "  Your  ancestors  see  you,"  or  "You  must  not  dis- 
grace your  ancestors. ' '  Of  course  that  is  Shintoism  ;  but 
the  two  run  together  with  the  masses,  though  the  temples 
are  quite  distinct.  Dr.  Nanjio  said  the  sects  in  Japan  all 
belong  to  the  "Larger  Teaching,"  which  makes  of  Nir- 
vana a  state  of  positive  blessedness  in  the  future,  rather 
than  a  negative  extinction  through  freedom  from  passion. 
Yet  he  really  thought  the  religion  did  have  an  influence 
on  the  lives  of  the  people.  He  is  to  send  me  to  another 
priest  in  Kyoto,  where  I  may  get  a  little  further.  On  the 
afternoon  of  Thursday  I  had  a  long  intervieAv  at  A.  C. 
H.'s  with  the  Professor  of  Ethics,  who  was  explaining  to 
me  the  system  of  moral  instruction  in  the  schools.  The 
Education  Department  made  me  a  present  of  the  set  of 
text  books,  with  a  request  that  I  would  reciprocate.  But 
I  will  spare  you  an  account  of  that,   though  it  is  very  in- 

72 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


teresting  and  suggestive.  Yet  I  was  struck  with  his  limi- 
tations. They  do  not  seem  interested  here  in  the  specula- 
tive problem,  and  I  have  my  doubts  whether  they  would 
be  free,  even  if  they  were  interested.  No  religious  sects 
interfere  with  the  researches  of  the  men  of  science,  but 
when  it  comes  to  sociology,  history,  economics,  ethics,  I 
fancy  everything  would  be  subordinated  to  the  utilitarian 
question,  "  What  is  the  safest  thing  to  teach  the  people?" 
rather  than  "  What  is  the  truth  ?"  I  could  see  they  stand 
in  mortal  dread  of  socialism,  though  as  yet  from  afar  — 
apparently.  The  "divine  discontent"  has  not  struck  this 
people.  If  it  does,  I  shall  feel  sorry  for  the  statesmen  ; 
the  factory  system  is  sure  to  bring  it.  Well,  you  will  be 
mighty  sorry  soon  that  you  gave  me  this  pen,  for  it  writes 
on  glibly  from  prisons  to  children,  whether  the  matter  is 
interesting  to  you  or  not.  Am  finishing  this  letter  Sunday 
morning.  It  bids  fair  to  be  a  rainy  day,  yet  I  have  no 
reason  to  complain  ;  so  far  this  climate  has  been  libeled. 
In  three  weeks  we  have  only  had  two  hot  days  and  four 
rainy  ones.     I  go  back  to  Tokyo  this  afternoon. 

Tokyo,  Sunday. 
We  had  a  jolly  forenoon  in  spite  of  the  rain,  taking  a 
trolley  ride  along  the  sea-shore,  having  tea  at  a  tea-house, 
going  to  the  beautiful  island  of  Enoshima,  which  is  sur- 
passingly beautiful,  and  getting  back  thoroughly  tired, 
fearfully  dirty,  and  ravenously  hungry.  I  had  to  have  fwo 
men  pull  me  back  over  the  last  stretch  in  a  riksha  (one 
pulls  and  the  other  pushes).  In  a  little  cemetery  I  saw  a 
tray  with  dishes  at  a  gravestone,  an  offering  of  rice  and 

73 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


sake  to  the  dead.  In  the  afternoon,  on  the  way  to  the 
station,  I  went  to  see  the  Daibutsu  again,  which  impressed 
me  more  than  ever.  I  think  of  it  as  the  "crucifix"  of 
the  Orient,  though  of  a  different  significance.  Then  I 
went  to  a  Buddhist  temple,  gloriously  situated  on  a  hill- 
side, the  red  tints  contrasting  beautifully  with  the  mass  of 
green.  At  the  station  I  was  looking  at  the  roof  of  a  new 
house  being  erected.  Over  it  was  placed  a  '*bow-and- 
arrow"  pointed  northeast,  placed  there  to  ward  off  evil 
spirits  from  the  house,  I  am  told.  The  rice  fields  are 
beautiful  to  look  at,  traveling  along  the  railway. 


74 


NINTH    LETTER 

Tokyo, 

Tuesday  A.  M. ,  June  26th. 
*  *  *  * 

■yESTERDAY  afternoon  I  went  to  Miss  Tsuda's  school 
in  a  riksha  to  witness  the  fencing  work  of  the  girls. 
Miss  Tsuda  had  a  rather  distinguished  company.  There 
were  the  British  Ambassador  and  his  wife,  Sir  Claude  and 
Lady  Mac  Donald  ;  the  Russian  Ambassador ;  the  Vice- 
minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  for  Japan ;  Mrs.  Buck,  the 
wife  of  the  former  American  Minister,  and  several  other 
ladies.  When  the  British  Ambassador  came  to  leave,  he 
told  Miss  Tsuda  that  noiv  he  would  forgive  her  all  the 
hymns  (they  live  just  opposite,  and  get  the  benefit  of  the 
singing  in  summer  time  when  the  windows  are  open).  A. 
C.  H.  and  Miss  Tsuda  enjoyed  that  immensely.  The 
fencing  and  poses  were  very  interesting.  Afterwards  two 
of  the  girls  played  upon  some  extraordinary  Japanese  in- 
strument (the  koto).  When  tea  had  been  served  and  the 
swells  were  gone,  I  got  the  girls  back  into  the  room  and  took 
several  pictures  of  their  poses,  including  the  musicians 
and  their  "harps."  It  had  to  be  half  a  minute  to  a 
minute  exposure,  but  the  girls  held  their  poses  splendidly, 
much  better  than  American  girls  would  do,  for  they  are 
less  self-conscious.  1  do  hope  the  pictures  will  come  out 
right.  If  they  do  they  will  be  something  quite  stunning. 
But  the  timing  was  wild  guess-work,  as  it  was  pouring  rain 
outside. 

75 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


In  the  morning  I  had  to  speak  at  one  of  the  universi- 
ties (I  can't  pronounce  the  name.  It  begins  with  a  *'K" 
and  ends  with  a  "u,"  with  six  syllables  between,  and  sug- 
gests "  Diogenes"*).  It  was  in  the  oldest  lecture-hall  in 
Japan,  crowded  with  about  four  hundred  students  and  pro- 
fessors. The  young  men  are  older  than  American  students, 
ranging  from  twenty-one  to  twenty-five  years  old.  I 
talked  to  them  for  three-quarters  of  an  hour  on  "The 
Love  of  Knowledge  for  Its  Own  Sake."  For  ten  minutes 
I  was  plodding  along  at  the  rate  of  about  seventy-five 
words  per  minute,  wondering  whether  they  understood  a 
word,  when  suddenly  I  discovered  they  did  understand. 
I  told  them  that  I  assumed  that  when  they  graduated  they 
would  go  home  and  say  to  their  parents:  "  Look  at  me. 
See  what  an  educated  man  I  am  !"  At  that  there  was  a 
roar  and  a  howl,  and  I  knew  that  they  had  caught  on. 
Afterwards  the  president  took  me  over  the  University 
buildings,  and  I  also  met  several  of  the  professors.  The 
institution  begins  with  the  kindergarten,  and  ends  with  the 
university  course  at  about  twenty-four  or  twenty-five  years 
of  age,  having  some  3,000  pupils.  Most  of  the  graduates 
go  into  commercial  life  or  law.  I  asked  the  president  if 
any  of  the  universities  teach  Latin  or  Greek.  He  said 
no,  he  thought  not,  but  that  they  teach  Chinese,  which  he 
said  (very  cleverly)  is  the  "  Latin  and  Greek"  for  Japan. 

Tuesday  evening. 
Mr.  Okoshi  was  showing  me  a  half-column  or  more  of 
tea-chest  signs  in  this  morning's  Japanese  paper  as  a  report 


Keiogijiku. 

76 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


of  my  talk  to  the  students  yesterday  morning,  but  I  did 
not  ask  to  have  his  secretary  translate  it,  for  fear  of  ''Log- 
ical "  Society  again.  This  morning  the  president  of  the 
"Women's  University,"  Dr.  Naruse,  sent  a  riksha  for 
nie  with  two  runners.  It  was  a  long  "ride,"  but  I  got 
there  about  11-30.  (If  it  were  called  simply  a  Girls' 
College,  I  should  think  it  a  prodigy  of  growth  for  five 
years  of  life  since  it  was  started.)  They  have  an  excep- 
tionally fine  series  of  buildings,  and  it  seems  remarkably 
well-equipped,  but  it  is  not  a  university.  It  seemed  quite 
ecjual  to  the  Girls'  Higher  Normal  School,  and  it  has 
large  and  beautiful  grounds.  Of  course  it  teaches  cook- 
ing and  sewing  and  women's  work  of  all  kinds,  but  I  saw 
a  large  class  hearing  a  lecture  on  chemistry  by  a  professor 
who  had  studied  a  number  of  years  in  Germany.  The 
course  ranges  from  kindergarten  up  to  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  the  completion  of  the  "college  "  work.  I  especially 
enjoyed  watching  the  girls  in  the  gymnasium  (there  were 
two  gymnasiums,  one  for  the  high  school,  and  one  for  the 
college  students).  The  motions  they  practice  are  half- 
dancing,  and  seemed  very  graceful.  Many  of  them  wore 
leather  shoes,  and  some  of  them  sandals.  They  have 
three  kinds  of  dormitories :  one  quite  Japanese,  where  I 
saw  the  girls  sitting  on  the  floor  at  their  studies  ;  another 
half  Japanese,  where  they  use  chairs,  and  have  a  combina- 
tion study-desk-bureau-drawer-folding-bed  arrangement, 
which  seemed  both  clever  and  amusing.  The  girls  served 
us  an  excellent  lunch.  Just  before  that,  the  older  ones, 
ranging  from  seventeen  to  twenty-one  years  of  age  (some 
three  hundred  of  them)  assembled  in  the  main  hall  at   i  2 

77 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


o'clock,  along  with  some  of  the  professors  and  teachers. 
First  they  all  stood  up  and  sang  their  National  Air  at  my 
request.  Then  began  my  talk,  in  seven  parts.  At  the 
end  of  each  part  I  would  stop,  and  the  president  would  in- 
terpret. It  seemed  quite  amusing,  though  several  times  he 
waxed  quite  eloquent  over  it.  I  spoke  on  the  "  Meaning 
of  Self-culture."  The  first  thing  I  said  to  them  was  that 
my  first  thought  on  looking  at  them  had  been  that  some- 
time everyone  of  them  would  get  married  and  have  a  good 
husband ;  whereas,  if  they  were  in  America,  not  more 
than  half  of  them  would  ever  marry.  (I  have  my  doubts 
whether  the  president  put  that  into  his  part  of  the  speech). 
The  first  row  of  girls  were  supposed  to  understand  Eng- 
lish. At  any  rate,  they  were  a  nice  lot  of  young  women, 
and  I  just  wish  I  could  have  had  a  chance  at  them  in  their 
own  tongue.  When  I  left,  the  president  gave  me  a 
kakemono  with  drawings  made  by  one  of  the  High  School 
pupils,  and  I  told  him  I  would  take  it  to  you. 

It  has  at  last  come  off  clear,  a  sizzling  hot  day.  This 
afternoon  I  took  a  long  walk,  and  visited  another  of  the 
slums.  It  was  something  awful  —  far  worse  than  the  rag- 
pickers' street.  The  narrow  lanes,  with  the  diseased- 
looking  children  and  half-clad  people,  with  naked  little  ones, 
boys  and  girls,  running  about,  and  the  smells,  and  the  dirt  — 
it  was  appalling.  And  yet  I  saw  no  drunkenness,  no 
mean  faces,  heard  no  quarreling.  They  seemed  cheerful, 
even  there.  My  companion  said  they  took  me  for  a  mis- 
sionary. Just  before  starting,  Mr.  Tucker,  to  whom  your 
brother  had  given  me  a  letter,  came  in  from  St.  Paul's 
school.    I  had  a  pleasant  talk  with  him.    He  seems  clever, 

78 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


young  and  earnest,  and  altogether  pleasing.  The  St.  Paul's 
School  is  to  be  congratulated  on  their  man.  To-morrow  I 
go  to  see  the  Prime  Minister. 

Thursday  evening. 
Have  been  busy  most  of  the  day  getting  off  my  "  Sum- 
mer Greetings  from  Japan."  A.  C.  H.  and  several  of  the 
pupils  helped  me  at  her  home  this  afternoon.  We  mailed 
702  envelopes  at  the  office,  with  about  800  Greetings,  with 
my  signature.  I  had  one  of  my  iris-garden  pictures  plated 
and  used  that  with  a  sentiment  from  Tennyson.  My  in- 
terview with  the  Prime  Minister  was  interesting.  On  my 
way  I  was  watching  one  of  the  big  kites  circling  in  the 
air  in  a  most  peculiar  way.  They  float  over  Tokyo  with 
their  huge  wings,  like  great  vultures,  though  I  have  never 
seen  one  come  to  earth.  But  the  crows  seem  quite  at  home 
in  the  city.  I  also  passed  a  funeral  procession  —  something 
quite  different  from  what  one  sees  in  America.  A  large 
shrine-like  structure  passed  by,  draped  in  7i>hite,  and  car- 
ried on  men's  shoulders,  followed  by  a  procession  on  foot 
or  in  rikshas.  The  Prime  Minister  speaks  French,  but 
not  English.  I  did  not  risk  French,  but  let  Mr.  Yokoi  act 
as  interpreter  for  the  Marquis  Saionji.  It  was  really  quite 
interesting.  He  was  dressed  in  Japanese  kimono,  is  a  man 
about  fifty-five  years  old,  and  very  unpretentious.  I  asked 
him  about  his  hopes  for  China,  the  Hague  Peace  Confer- 
ence, the  lack  of  social  unrest  in  Japan,  whether  the  pres- 
ent Constitution  was  working  satisfactorily,  and  also  about 
reforms  in  the  prison  system.  (Although  as  yet,  judging 
from  the   face,  I  would  not   know  a  Count   or  a   Marquis 

79 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


from  a  riksha  man,  I  can  honestly  testify  that  these  noble- 
men do  smoke  most  excellent  cigars).  In  the  afternoon 
I  went  with  A.  C.  H.  to  visit  the  Red  Cross  Hospital.  It  is 
a  very  "high-collar"  institution,  as  she  expresses  it,  and 
certainly  rivals  any  hospital  I  have  ever  seen.  The  per- 
fection of  the  equipment  is  astonishing.  The  wards  are 
all  of  one  story.  There  are  three  hundred  beds  (sixty  of 
them  free),  this  without  counting  the  so-called  barracks, 
where  the  invalid  soldiers  are  still  housed  by  the  hundreds. 
Miss  Waters  would  be  interested  in  the  nurses'  costume 
with  its  high  cap  (to  fit  the  stately  pompadour)  and  white 
skirt  (made  for  use  and  not  for  beauty).  Of  course  there 
were  gardens.  Especially  interesting  was  the  amusement 
hall  for  soldiers,  where  we  saw  a  hundred  or  two  hundred 
seated  on  the  floor  in  white  garments,  and  in  various  stages 
of  invalidism,  enjoying  a  lecture  by  somebody  on  Japanese 
history.  In  the  wards  one  might  eat  one's  breakfast  using 
the  floors  as  a  plate,  as  I  remarked,  so  spotlessly  clean 
they  seemed.  The  doctor  stopped  one  limping  soldier 
and  had  him  take  off"  his  bandage  and  show  me  the  stump 
of  his  leg,  almost  healed.  Last  evening  I  had  Miss  Tsuda, 
A.  C.  H.  and  Mr.  Sakurai  to  dinner  here,  and  had  a  good 
time  informally.  Did  I  tell  you  that  the  postal-card  mania 
holds  full  sway  in  Japan  ?  I  had  wondered  what  all  these 
many  postal-card  shops  could  mean  ;  there  seem  to  be 
hundreds  of  them.  It  seems  that  young  and  old  are  eager 
to  collect  them,  and  the  samples  are  often  of  European 
importation.  They  even  collect  postage  stamps,  just  as  we 
do.  Am  sorry  to  say  that  this  excessive  dampness  is  giv- 
ing me  no  end  of  trouble  with  my  films,  and  has  spoiled 

80 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


scores  of  them.  The  makers  evidently  did  not  allow  for 
the  Japanese  climate.  Yet  I  have  c[uite  a  number  of  good 
pictures.  I  am  thinking  of  going  to  the  far  north  on  Mon- 
day, a  twelve  hours'  ride,  to  Sendai,  the  center  of  the 
famine  region,  returning  to  Nikko,  and  then  going  to 
Kyoto.  I  tell  A.  C.  H.  that  if  she  knew  how  often  her 
name  occurred  in  my  letters  she  might  be  astounded.  I 
bought  a  straw  hat  to-day  for  ^3.25.  It  has  got  warm  at 
last.  I  saw  something  this  afternoon  which  would  have 
entertained  you  immensely,  but  of  that  in  my  next  letter. 


Si 


TENTH   LETTER 


Tokyo, 
June  30,  Saturday  A.  M. 


^fC     ^     ^     ^ 


npHAT  novel  experience  I  mentioned  in  my  last  letter 
was  a  "ceremonial  tea."  After  we  had  gotten  off 
the  mail  Thursday  afternoon,  A.  C.  H.  and  I  went  to  pay  an 
afternoon  call  on  a  wealthy  and  aristocratic  Japanese  lady. 
As  she  knew  we  were  coming,  she  sent  word  she  would  en- 
tertain us  with  the  "ceremonial  tea."  It  was  a  high 
honor,  and  A.  C.  H.  had  a  new  pair  of  white  kid  gloves 
to  grace  the  occasion.  We  were  first  ushered  into  the  for- 
eign part  of  the  house  (as  that  is  something  all  the  best 
houses  now  have).  Then  we  took  off  our  shoes  and  en- 
tered "  Japan."  It  was  all  so  exactly  like  what  the  books 
describe,  it  seemed  like  a  dream.  The  little  lady  was 
dressed  with  austere  simplicity.  It  was  a  large  house,  built 
around  a  tiny  garden  about  twenty  feet  square.  The  fur- 
nishings were  in  keeping  with  the  lady's  dress.  In  fact, 
they  consisted  of  mats  and  thin  cushions  mostly  (although 
she  did  have  electric  light,  which  was  not  Japanese).  The 
rooms  usually  had  a  small  square  board  fitted  into  the 
middle  of  the  floor.  Raise  it,  and  there  was  a  place  for  a 
charcoal  fire  in  winter  time.  She  had  gotten  out  various 
odd  kakemonos  from  the  thirteenth  century,  and  other 
curios,  and  old  lacquer  and  pictures  to  entertain  us  with 
(as  the  custom  is).  We  sat  on  the  floor,  and  A.  C.  H. 
worshipped,  and  I  tried  to  (I  think  A.  C.  H.  must  have  a 

83 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


very  strong  spine,  for  I  do  not  know  how  many  times  she 
touched  the  floor  with  her  head.  She  just  loves  it  all,  I 
can  see).  When  I  gave  the  lady  my  card,  she  bowed  sol- 
emnly to  it,  as  though  it  were  a  person.  She  spoke  no 
English,  but  we  had  one  of  the  pupils  along  as  an  inter- 
preter. The  solemn  moment  came  when  with  religious 
awe  we  entered  a  retired  part  of  the  house  and  sat  down 
in  silence,  in  a  tiny  room  where  a  kettle  was  slowly  sim- 
mering, like  incense,  over  charcoal.  I  cannot  describe 
the  details  ;  every  motion  the  lady  made  is  prescribed  by 
rule.  The  dishes,  of  course,  were  all  antique  and  most 
valuable  (beautiful  in  idea).  The  tea  is  a  powder  kept  in 
a  tiny  precious  box  of  old  lacquer.  I  was  warned  that  it 
was  furiously  strong,  so  I  took  only  one  sip.  It  was  thick, 
as  if  it  were  stewed  spinach.  When  A.  C.  H.  took  hers, 
you  would  have  supposed  she  was  just  going  to  be  married, 
so  solemnly  did  she  behave,  and  she  sipped  with  gusto,  as 
a  German  baron  would  sip  wine  six  hundred  years  old 
(you  can  make  all  the  noise  you  please  when  sipping  over 
here,  whether  it  be  soup  or  tea  or  macaroni).  The  thing 
the  lady  used  each  time  to  cleanse  the  cup  is  a  piece 
of  bamboo  split  into  one  hundred  pieces.  The  cups  we 
drank  from  were  dark  little  bowls  of  old  Korean  pottery. 
We  also  saw  the  "  larger  garden,"  at  the  side  of  the  house. 
It  was  all  as  the  book  describes  it :  the  place  for  the  water- 
fall, a  running  stream  of  water,  pools  for  gold-fish,  a  rock- 
ery, stone  lanterns,  a  hill,  a  bridge,  old  pine  trees,  shrub- 
bery, but  almost  no  flowers  ;  they  do  not  go  with  that  kind 
of  a  garden.  Finally  we  bowed,  put  on  our  shoes,  and 
bowed  ourselves  out.      I  forgot  to  say  that  the  twelve-year- 

84 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


old  son  appeared,  and  sat  down  solemnly  in  the  tea-room. 
All  the  clothes  he  had  on,  inside  and  out,  was  a  kimono, 
and  something  to  tie  it  with.  He  did  look  happy.  The 
two  other  sons  are  in  America.  The  house,  by  the  way, 
is  just  about  adjoining  Admiral  Togo's. 

Yesterday  I  went  first  to  visit  the  Courts  of  Justice,  and 
sat  down  in  the  various  rooms  to  see  a  little  of  the  procedure 
in  different  trials.  Two  civil  cases,  two  criminal  trials. 
the  Court  of  Appeals,  and  the  Supreme  Court.  The  law- 
yers all  wear  black  cap  and  gown,  and  the  judges  likewise. 
It  is  the  German  system,  with  judges  but  no  jurors.  But 
it  is  all  conducted  with  dignity  and  impressiveness.  This 
was  New  Japan  with  a  vengeance,  in  contrast  with  the  af- 
ternoon before.  (I  forgot  to  say  that  in  the  tea-room  of 
the  Japanese  lady's  house  there  was  also  a  small  aperture 
through  which  the  samurai  had  to  crawl  or  creep,  leaving 
his  sword  behind  him. )  Then  I  had  to  go  to  Miss  Tsuda's 
school  and  address  the  girls  for  half  an  hour,  so  I  fell  back 
on  "  Harry  and  the  Circus  "  (he  little  knows  how  many 
times  he  has  saved  me).  They  laughed  some.  We  had  a 
lot  of  amusement  trying  to  decide  what  was  the  plural  for 
* '  rhinoceros  ' '  —  none  of  us  knew.  Afterwards  I  described 
the  Old  District  School,  and  read  them  Whittier's  "In 
School  Days  ' '  (telling  them  how  I  fell  down  once  on 
spelling  "which"  as  "whitch."  They  laughed  vigor- 
ously at  thaf).  In  the  afternoon  1  paid  a  visit  to  the 
"  Blind  School  "  (also  for  deaf  and  dumb).  There  were 
about  three  hundred  inmates,  including  some  eighty  blind. 
It  was  like  those  at  home,  and  (juite  up-to-date.  One  of 
of  the  girls,  born  deaf,  read  aloud  something  for  me  from 

85 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


the  blackboard.  Some  most  pathetic  cases  were  those  of 
soldiers  who  had  had  their  eyes  blown  out  by  bomb  ex- 
plosions in  the  late  war.  One  of  them  was  reading  a  book 
in  physics  as  I  entered  his  room.  He  read  aloud  something 
to  me  with  his  fingers  for  eyes.  The  deaf  and  dumb  were 
busy  at  carpentry  and  other  things  (I  even  heard  a  piano 
in  the  building).  On  one  of  the  walls  of  the  lecture  hall 
was  hanging  proudly  a  diploma  from  the  Louisiana  Pur- 
chase Exposition,  awarding  a  gold  medal  for  their  exhibit ; 
also  a  picture  of  Graham  Bell.  I  did  see  one  of  those  kites 
swoop  down  right  in  front  of  me  yesterday,  and  snatch 
something  on  the  wing.  The  post  office  telephoned  on 
Thursday  at  9  P.  M.  that  I  had  put  twice  too  much 
postage  on  all  those  unsealed  letters.  It  was  too  late  to 
do  anything,  but  it  meant  $7  gone  to  waste,  and  I  be- 
grudge the  money.  The  hotel  clerk  had  misinformed  me. 
Yet,  as  someone  here  said,  Japan  needs  all  the  extra  money 
she  can  get  just  now.  Have  seen  just  four  automobiles  in 
the  month  I  have  been  here.  Fortunate  Japan  !  Instead 
of  automobiles  this  country  is  blessed  with  pine  trees  — 
glorious  ones,  in  city  and  country  alike.  They  are  a  won- 
derful ornament  to  the  parks,  and  even  in  private  gardens. 
They  know  how  to  value  their  tree -treasures  in  these  isl- 
ands. I  saw  two  magnificent  trees  in  the  garden  of  the 
Blind  School  yesterday,  estimated  to  be  over  three  hun- 
dred years  old.  Of  course  the  moist  climate  helps  a  good 
deal.  Just  now  the  weather  is  all  that  the  books  say  about 
it — hot,  muggy,  wet,  rainy,  sticky  —  all  that  is  vile  to  the 
stranger,  but  all  that  is  precious  to  rice  growers  and  the 
rice  farms  in  the  country.    Without  rice  these  people  would 

86 


LETTERS   FROM  JAPAN 


Starve.  Every  now  and  then  I  see  someone  happy  with 
his  chop-sticks  over  his  bowl  of  rice,  seemingly  enjoying 
it  as  the  American  would  relish  a  juicy  beefsteak.  But  I 
doubt  if  he  enjoys  the  weather  exactly,  though  he  does  not 
seem  to  worry  over  it.  Everything  one  picks  up  is  soft 
with  moisture.  My  plans  have  changed.  Am  going  first 
south,  twelve  hours  distance  to  Kyoto,  in  order  to  be  there 
while  the  Nitobes  are  there.  After  that  I  may  come  north 
and  go  up  to  Sendai.  I  dropped  in  on  Mr.  Tucker  this 
afternoon  at  the  St.  Paul's  School.  (Am  writing  now  Sat- 
urday evening.)  He  certainly  is  a  magnificent  young  fel- 
low. He  was  telling  me  of  a  school  for  the  feeble-minded, 
co7iducted  in  the  suburbs  of  Tokyo  by  the  Japanese.  He 
thinks  this  people  are  naturally  charitable-hearted,  and 
with  a  real  spirit  of  religion  of  its  own  kind.  I  also  called 
at  Mr.  Yokoi's  office  to  say  goodbye  and  express  my  grat- 
itude. He  certainly  has  helped  me  very  much.  I  suggest 
you  write  to  the  Westons  and  invite  them  to  come  over  to 
Salisbury  for  a  few  days.  I  can  tell  them  lots  of  interest- 
ing things,  but  I  shall  be  too  travel-weary  to  go  to  the  Ad- 
irondacks.     This  has  been  more  work  than  play  so  far. 


87 


*  *  *  * 


ELEVENTH  LETTER 

Kyoto,  July  3,  Tuesday. 


LJERE  I  am,  twelve  hours  south,  at  Kyoto.  It  is  beau- 
tifully located  in  the  mountains.  Am  sitting  on  the 
balcony  in  front  of  my  bedroom  window,  on  a  hill  over- 
looking the  city,  with  a  mountain  range  just  beyond,  and 
the  shadows  playing  over  the  ridges.  I  took  a  picture  of 
the  tree-tops  a  moment  ago  right  from  here.  It  is  the 
Dresden  of  Japan,  about  400,000  people,  where  they 
make  fancy  things  with  deft  fingers,  from  bamboo 
boxes  to  fine  embroidery,  and  where  the  people  love 
most  of  all  to  wear  fine  clothes  —  so  Dr.  Nitobe  con- 
tends—  even  if  they  have  to  go  hungry  to  pay  for  them. 
Kyoto  was  for  centuries  the  residence  city  of  the  empe- 
rors, and  has  beautiful  old  temples  nobly  situated  in  groves, 
as  they  used  to  be  in  the  old  Greek  days.  I  went  to  one 
of  them  this  morning.  It  was  a  long  climb  up  two  flights 
of  stone  steps  to  a  big  open  court.  I  entered  the  tem- 
ple first  to  see  the  richly  decorated  altar,  and  then  went 
around  back  to  an  historic  building  of  the  priests'  rooms, 
and  I  was  shown  the  mural  decorations  and  priceless  art 
treasures,  and  kakemonos,  which  the  Japanese  love  so 
much.  The  very  names  of  the  artists  they  mention  with 
a  kind  of  awe.  However,  I  am  less  interested  in  their  art 
than  in  the  way  they  feel  for  their  art.  But  their  birds  I 
can  envy,  for  they  do  paint  living  birds.  The  "stork" 
and  "  heron  "  and  "  chrysanthemum  "  rooms  were  within 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


my  appreciation.  Then  there  was  a  monster  bell  on  a 
further  hill,  with  history  back  of  it.  But  the  grounds  and 
shrubbery  and  trees  are  all,  oh,  so  fascinating  ! 

I  left  Tokyo  yesterday  morning  in  a  pouring  rain. 
The  hotel  had  become  like  home  —  I  hated  to  leave  it. 
My  bedroom  "boy"  was  a  regular  valet.  I  wish  I  had 
him  in  St.  Louis.  But  the  weather  cleared  up,  and  it  was 
a  most  interesting  day.  To  see  Old  and  New  Japan  all 
mixed  up  one  needs  to  make  a  long  journey  on  an  express 
train.  The  cars  were  lighted  with  electricity.  We  had  a 
dining  car  cooled  with  electric  fans,  where  I  had  an  ex- 
cellent dinner  for  fifty  cents.  In  the  car  close  to  me  was 
the  great  Marshal  Oyama,  who  was  at  the  head  of  all  the 
armies  in  the  late  war,  and  with  him  his  son-in-law  (a 
middle-aged  lawyer).  The  Marshal  was  dressed  in  a 
plain  tweed  suit,  and  was  without  valet,  and  had  neither 
private  compartment  nor  private  car,  as  he  would  have 
had  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  The  only  thing  that 
made  him  look  distinguished  was  that  his  clothes  fitted 
him.  It  was  amusing  to  see  the  Japanese  ladies  spread 
down  their  rugs  on  their  seats,  then  draw  up  their  feet 
underneath  them,  and  settle  down  to  Buddhistic  repose. 
They  cannot  lean  their  heads  back,  for  it  would  ruin  the 
dress  of  their  hair,  and  that  has  been  done  up  for  at  least 
a  week.  One  of  them  pulled  out  a  cigarette,  lighted  it, 
and  puffed  the  smoke  through  her  nose  like  a  veteran 
(which  was  not  quite  Buddhistic  in  the  pristine  sense). 
It  must  be  also  confessed  that  the  son  of  the  Marshal 
struck  up  a  violent  flirtation  with  My  Lady  of  the  Cigar- 
ettes (after  his  father  had  left)  and  coquetted  with  his  fan, 

90 


LETTERS    FROM   JAPAN 


like  an  American  girl  of  sixteen.  At  the  other  end  of  this 
car  (where  was  the  second-class  compartment)  the  people 
were  happy  lunching  with  their  chop-sticks  out  of  their 
rice  boxes,  looking  after  their  babies  (which,  of  course, 
never  cried),  and  being  domestic  generally.  Some  wore 
foreign  dresses  and  some  kimonos.  The  Marshal's  son 
wore  wooden  clogs,  and  was  dressed  quite  in  the  Japanese 
style.  Everybody  had  his  or  her  teapot  and  cup  under  the 
seat,  and  got  it  filled  at  the  stations.  When  we  stopped, 
men  brought  jugs  of  tea,  as  they  do  mugs  of  beer  in  Ger- 
many. I  bought  one  for  one  and  a  half  cents.  They  told 
me  the  pot  and  cup  were  included,  but  1  was  not  sure 
about  that,  so  I  drank  my  "  hot  mixture"  and  left  them 
behind.  It  was  curious  at  the  stations  to  see  the  long  rows 
of  wash-basins,  and  how  the  people  would  rush  out  to  have 
a  wash  at  the  stopping  places.  The  boys  cry  newspapers 
and  drinks  and  sandwiches  in  a  sing-song  tone  which  is 
quite  musical.  The  whole  trip  was  a  feast  to  the  eye 
of  picturesque  scenes  and  beautiful  scenery  —  an  endless 
array  of  rice  fields,  the  young  rice  standing  in  an  inch  ot 
water  and  growing  in  the  oblong  plots  ;  the  people  work- 
ing in  the  fields,  in  their  big  straw  hats.  Sometimes  there 
was  more  clothing  on  the  head  than  anywhere  else.  If  it 
rained,  they  had  on  rice-straw  overcoats,  half  hiding  them 
from  view.  Occasionally  we  passed  tea-pickers,  and  the 
bushes  of  tea  on  the  sloping  hill-sides.  The  farm-houses 
are  usually  in  a  nest  of  trees,  and  with  their  thatched  roofs 
are  very  striking,  but  no  chimneys  disfigure  them.  Occa- 
sionally one  sees  the  smoke  from  the  family  hearth  coming 
out  through  the  roof     That  is  the  only  way  it  can  get  out. 

91 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


One  scarcely  ever  sees  a  road,  and  never  any  cattle.  The 
rice-ground  is  worth  some  $3,000  an  acre,  they  tell  me, 
and  it  must  feed  men,  not  animals,  and  be  made  to  pay  a 
big  dividend.  There  are  hills  in  plenty,  and  beautiful 
mountain  ranges.  Part  of  the  time  we  were  skirting  the 
sea-coast.  I  do  wish  you  could  have  made  the  trip  ;  but  I 
can  tell  you  it  was  jolly  hot  most  of  the  day.  There  was 
an  Englishman  and  his  wife  on  the  train,  also  going  to 
Kyoto.  (They  have  been  at  the  Metropole,  and  nine 
weeks  in  Tokyo. )  He  was  telling  me  of  the  difficulties  of 
starting  business  here,  and  smiled  at  the  fear  of  the  Amer- 
icans lest  the  Japanese  cut  into  foreign  trade.  He  found 
an  air-pillow  made  of  paper  for  17)^  cents.  He  went  to 
the  maker  and  wished  to  give  him  an  order  for  100,000 
of  them  at  once.  The  man,  or  manufacturer,  would  take 
an  order  for  100,  yes  —  but  for  100,000?  No.  It  would 
ruin  him  to  think  of  it.  He  asked  to  have  the  order  re- 
duced to  100.  "That  is  Japanese  business  methods," 
said  the  Englishman.  We  did  not  see  the  great  Fuji 
mountain,  alas  !  the  chief  sight  in  Japan  —  it  was  too 
cloudy.  But  I  shall  see  it  going  back.  Not  to  have  seen 
that  would  be  not  to  have  been  in  Japan. 

My  Englishman  was  telling  me  also  of  the  difficulty  of 
Christianity  in  conquering  Japan,  unless  it  readjusts  it- 
self. A  Japanese  had  mentioned  the  chief  difficulty  in  the 
difference  of  attitude  in  the  theory  of  the  family.  For 
these  people  loyalty  to  parents  comes  first.  "  But  you 
say,"  says  the  Japanese,  "that  if  a  young  fellow  sees  a 
pretty  girl  and  marries  her  in  two  days,  that  tie  be- 
comes paramount  over  duty  to  father  and  mother.     '  They 

92 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


shall  leave  father  and  mother  and  cleave  to  one  another, 
and  become  one  flesh. '  That  is  thoroughly  repugnant  to 
all  Japanese  traditions."  But  I  suspect  the  root  of  the 
difficulty  goes  deeper.  In  Christianity  the  unit  is  the  in- 
dividual soul.  "What  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for 
his  soul  ?"  Here  it  is  \.\\q  family  soul  "  to  be  saved,"  not 
that  of  the  individual.  I  was  watching  an  old  woman 
come  up  to  a  temple  to-day  right  from  the  streets.  She 
pulled  a  rope  which  rang  a  bell,  then  she  knelt  down  and 
mumbled  a  prayer  with  folded  hands,  rubbing  or  half- 
clapping  them.  It  was  not  a  Buddhist  temple,  but  a  Shinto 
one,  and  the  whole  basis  or  principle  of  Shintoism  is  an- 
cestor worship,  or  veneration  for  ancestors.  Sunday  was 
my  last  day  in  Tokyo  —  a  drizzling  rain  all  day.  In  the 
morning  I  had  a  long  and  interesting  talk  with  Prof  An- 
esaki,  who  has  the  chair  of  the  Science  of  Religion  at  the 
Imperial  University.  He  is  also  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
Ethical  Society  ;  but  the  latter  is  not  a  very  active  institu- 
tion here,  though  it  publishes  a  monthly  journal,  and  has 
lectures  once  every  two  months,  with  one  hundred  or  a 
hundred  and  fifty  attending,  with  a  meeting  for  discussion 
afterwards,  where  there  may  be  twelve  or  fifteen  present, 
and  they  vent  their  differences.  There  are  among  them  a 
few  Buddhists,  a  few  Christians  and  a  few  agnostics,  all  of 
a  scholarly  turn  of  mind,  but  not  caring  for  practical  work. 
I  suggested  that  they  start  an  agitation  against  the  Tokyo 
slums  I  had  visited,  but  he  said  the  members  were  not  in- 
terested that  way.  What  impressed  me  much  more  was 
that  there  are  other  organizations  springing  up  in  Japan 
somewhat  similar  to  the  American  Ethical  Societies,  but  ot 

9Z 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


another  name.  One  has  over  2,000  members,  with  branches 
all  over  Japan,  which  does  philanthropic  work,  besides 
having  lectures  and  publishing  a  journal.  It  is  the  Kotoso 
Society,  and  is  founded  on  the  teachings  of  Confuscius.  I 
was  also  very  much  impressed  with  what  Dr.  Anesaki  told 
me  concerning  a  revival  of  Ethical  Buddhism  among  stu- 
dents and  young  men,  with  organizations  springing  up  in 
various  directions.  He  said  there  was  a  most  pronounced 
revival  of  the  religious  spirit  going  on  just  now,  especially 
among  the  Buddhists,  breaking  away  from  the  old  formal- 
ism. So,  too,  he  says,  there  is  a  rationalistic  group,  call- 
ing themselves  Neo-Buddhists,  but  they  are  of  a  negative 
turn  of  mind  ;  also  another  group,  of  Pietistic  tendencies, 
with  a  "  Brotherhood  House."  The  most  novel  statement 
he  made  is  that  the  Minister  of  Education  is  opposed  to  re- 
ligious education  in  the  schools,  not  on  the  grounds  that 
we  have  for  that  course  in  America,  but  because  religion  is 
apt  to  have  a  demoralizing  influence  by  developing  a 
Hamlet-like  state  of  mind  —  pessimistic,  he  termed  it  — 
but  I  think  he  meant  '*  subjectivistic,"  making  them  think 
about  themselves  rather  than  their  country.  Well,  this  is 
not  very  exciting,  I  admit,  but  I  am  learning  a  good  deal 
about  Japan  this  summer,  and  I  thought  you  would  like  to 
share  in  it  all.  It  may  excite  you  more  to  know  that  I  saw 
a  woman  with  blackened  teeth  the  other  day,  the  only  one 
I  have  observed,  though  there  may  have  been  many  of 
them  whom  I  have  not  noticed.  It  was  a  peasant  woman 
from  the  rice-fields.  It  will  also  interest  you  to  know  that 
Prof.  Anesaki  said  that  domestic  conditions  were  much  im- 
proving in  Japan,   especially  among  the  middle  classes, 

94 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


chiefly  owing  to  the  higher  education  of  women,  and  that 
the  average  husband  from  that  class  was  apt  tww  to  be 
faithful  to  his  wife.  As  for  those  who  had  above  $50,000 
(which  he  said  meant  wealth  in  Japan)  I  inferred  from  his 
remarks  that  the  conditions  are  about  as  they  are  supposed 
to  be  in  America  among  the  millionaires. 

Yesterday  afternoon  I  astonished  my  riksha  man  by 
stopping  him  to  buy  a  dried  fish.  I  wanted  it  as  a  present 
for  you.  Just  wait  till  you  see  it  I  I  have  engaged  a  man 
and  a  riksha  here  for  my  own  exclusive  use  at  fifty  cents  a 
day  for  a  week.  Last  night  I  went  through  the  shopping 
streets  between  eight  and  nine,  and  it  was  a  sight  to  be- 
hold. They  are  a  lively  lot  of  people  here  at  Kyoto. 
Less  staid  and  steady-going  than  at  Tokyo.  I  dropped 
into  two  of  the  cheaper  theaters,  where,  as  a  special  favor, 
I  was  provided  with  a  chair.  At  one  place  there  was  mo- 
notonous dancing  and  hand-clapping  by  four  girls,  with 
some  atrocious  music,  and  at  the  other  place  it  was  some- 
thing like  our  comic  theatre,  with  dialogue  and  jokes.  (I 
suppose  they  were  jokes,  for  the  people  laughed.)  Of 
course  there  were  babies  and  little  children  and  tea-pots, 
and  a  general  spirit  of  fellowship.  But  the  streets  were 
certainly  a  picture,  and  everybody  out  seemingly  for  a 
good  time.  Well,  if  you  had  a  million  you  could  easily 
spend  it  to  advantage  in  this  city,  and  then  want  to  buy 
more.  Here,  especially,  is  where  the  clever  fingers  work. 
Happily  for  you,  you  are  far  away,  but  I  do  wish  you  could 
see  it.  Am  finishing  this  letter  Wednesday  morning,  wait- 
ing for  breakfast.  It  is  clearing  off  a  glorious  day,  but  it 
will  be  hot. 

95 


^\ 

;^3aBHB&/  .. 

■ini^^K^^ 

^k^Ka^ 

^^.- 

t^ 


\iir 


TWELFTH    LETTER 


Kyoto 
Wednesday,  July  4th. 


'f*     ^t*     'f^     'f* 


TT  was  hot,  as  I  prophesied,  but  my  riksha  man  took 
care  of  me,  though  I  had  to  walk  up  the  hills.  I  fancy 
you  may  have  been  fuming  internally  over  my  handwriting. 
You  could  punish  me  by  not  reading  my  letters.  How- 
ever, I  will  try  to  reform,  and  enlarge  a  little.  Have 
been  to  two  great  '*  palaces"  to-day  —  that  of  the  Mikados 
and  that  of  the  Shoguns.  I  had  secured  a  special  permit 
from  the  American  legation  at  Tokyo,  otherwise  they 
would  have  been  closed  to  me.  One  has  only  to  see  those 
palaces  to  realize  the  absurdity  of  the  notion  that  the  Jap- 
anese were  a  barbarous  or  uncivilized  people  before  the 
"Revolution."  One  realizes  here  what  can  be  done  in 
architecture  by  means  of  wood,  as  one  sees  these  palaces 
and  magnificent  temples.  There  is  a  stern  and  austere 
simplicity  about  the  palace  of  the  Mikados  in  contrast  with 
that  of  the  Shoguns,  but  it  is  chiefly  in  mural  decorations. 
As  for  furniture,  there  is  none  in  either  palace,  save 
for  the  mats  on  the  floor,  for  on  the  floor  emperor  and 
shogun  alike  must  have  .sat  in  true  Japanese  style.  There 
is  one  exception  —  in  the  throne  room  there  is  a  chair, 
which  was  occupied  on  occasions  of  state  by  the  mikados. 
The  Emperor's  palace  covers  some  twenty-six  acres,  in- 
cluding the  gardens.  Of  course,  everything  is  of  one 
story.     The  great  throne  room,  with  its  massive  beams,  is 

97 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


very  impressive.  The  chief  decoration  is  the  art-work, 
or  painting  on  the  doors  and  panels,  and  some  of  this  is 
truly  beautiful.  One  can  feel  the  truth  of  what  Mr.  Kurtz 
said,  that  the  Japanese  have  discovered  exactly  how  much 
to  put  on  a  panel  and  where  to  put  it.  Some  of  the  rooms 
go  by  the  names  of  the  picture  subjects  in  both  palaces, 
as  the  "stork"  room,  the  "chrysanthemum"  room,  etc. 
I  went  from  this  palace  to  that  of  the  Shoguns,  which  is 
much  richer,  with  vastly  more  gilding  or  gold  for  the 
background  of  the  pictures.  One  realizes  how  much  these 
people  love  the  Pine  Tree,  in  seeing  the  magnificent  way 
in  which  the  artist  used  this  for  a  subject,  in  some  instances 
with  the  trunk  in  full  life  size.  I  was  hurried  through  both 
palaces  in  an  exasperating  way,  for  I  should  have  enjoyed 
lingering  there  and  looking  at  the  rich  color  work,  espe- 
cially birds  and  trees.  One  feels,  in  going  through  the 
Emperor's  palace,  that  even  the  mikados  shared  the  sim- 
ple life  of  this  people,  and  it  must  mean  a  great  deal  for 
the  future  of  Japan.  I  can  begin  to  see  why  these  people 
have  such  a  peculiar  veneration  for  the  Emperor.  "By 
the  virtues  of  the  Emperor,"  as  Dr.  lyanaga  expressed  it 
in  quotation  on  Sunday  morning.  A.  C.  H.  says  he  really 
is  a  good  man,  and  the  Empress  a  heroic  little  woman.  I 
forgot  to  say  that  I  was  at  the  home  of  the  Nitobes  in 
Tokyo  Sunday  afternoon,  along  with  about  a  dozen  others, 
and  stayed  to  dinner,  by  prearrangement,  afterwards. 
They  are  perfectly  charming  people,  and  have  a  pretty  and 
tasteful  Japanese  home  in  Tokyo,  though  they  now  reside 
here  most  of  the  time.  Mrs.  Nitobe  was  a  Philadelphian, 
as  you  know,  and  an  intimate  friend  of  A.  C.  H.      They 

98 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


are  coming  back  here  to-night,  and  I  shall  see  something 
more  of  them.  This  afternoon  I  went  to  another  of  the 
temples,  and  then  to  the  art  museum.  The  latter  is  full  of 
old  treasures,  especially  rare  old  kakemonos,  but  I  am 
afraid  I  am  not  quite  up  to  some  of  these  works.  A  clump 
of  bamboos  growing  by  the  roadside,  or  an  aged  grand- 
father, with  shaven  head,  carrying  a  baby  on  his  back,  or 
trundling  it  in  a  baby  carriage,  interests  me  more  than  all 
the  richest  old  kakemonos  I  have  seen.  But  the  statues  of 
the  Buddhas  always  stir  me,  like  the  temples.  There  is 
something  awe-inspiring  about  them  both,  though  they  are 
as  remote  from  the  real  life  of  this  people,  just  now,  as  the 
crucifix  is  removed  from  the  daily  life  of  the  people  of 
Europe.  Only  the  higher  natures  have  a  feeling  tor  the 
meaning  of  it  all.  I  bought  to-day  one  of  those  bamboo 
sticks  used  in  cleaning  the  cups  at  the  Ceremonial  Tea,  as 
I  thought  it  would  interest  you ;  also  the  bamboo  dipper 
with  which  the  hot  water  is  ladled  out.  I  wish  you  were 
here  to  see  all  this.    The  shojjS  would  simply  fascinate  you. 

Thursday  evening. 
This  has  been  mostly  a  day  of  seeing  shops.  Just  as  I 
was  signing  my  name  at  the  Mikado's  palace  yesterday, 
and  putting  down  the  date,  I  realized  that  it  was  July  4th. 
It  came  and  went,  but  I  had  no  way  of  being  patriotic. 
This  morning  I  called  first  on  Mrs.  Nitobe.  They  have  a 
pretty  little  rented  place  close  by.  It  all  has  the  Japanese 
effect,  though  they  have  European  furniture.  Mrs.  Nitobe 
called  my  attention  to  the  sound  of  a  slowly  tinkling  bell. 
It  was  that  of  a  pilgrim  on  his  way  to  one  of  the  temples. 

99 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


The  bell  must  strike,  but  not  repeat  or  rebound,  as  the 
pilgrim  carries  it.  From  the  study  window  they  have  a 
striking  scene  of  one  of  the  picturesque  pagodas  on  the 
hillside,  with  a  background  of  trees  and  sky.  One  sees 
beautiful  cryptomerias  everywhere.  They,  along  with  the 
pines,  give  the  character  to  the  landscape,  although  every 
now  and  then  one  comes  upon  a  pretty  grove  of  the  lighter 
bamboo.  On  leaving  the  Nitobes,  I  went  up  to  another 
of  the  shrines,  with  a  perfectly  fascinating  garden.  It  led 
me  into  an  old  Buddhist  cemetery,  nestled  in  among  the 
thick  foliage.  Then  I  stopped  in  at  one  of  the  bamboo 
shops,  where  they  make  those  delicate  boxes,  with  little 
drawers  and  compartments.  I  went  back  and  saw  the 
workmen.  The  owner  of  the  shop  employs  three  men  and 
pays  them  thirty  cents  a  day  each  —  skilled  labor,  which 
would  command  five  or  six  dollars  in  America.  I  asked 
to  see  the  home  of  one  of  the  workmen ;  so  I  was  taken 
back  a  little  way  to  a  house  of  two  rooms.  There  were 
profuse  apologies  about  the  dirt,  but  it  was  really  clean. 
The  mother  was  giving  her  little  boy  (of  four  or  five)  his 
dinner.  He  sat  on  the  floor  at  his  tiny  table,  eating  vigor- 
ously with  his  chop-sticks,  while  she  refilled  his  bowl  from 
a  tub  of  rice.  The  father  was  on  the  mat,  waiting  for  his 
turn,  while  she  stood  near  the  cooking  utensils,  and  the 
materials  for  his  work  were  on  a  shelf  close  by.  There 
was  a  shrine  with  images  in  the  dining  room.  It  was  such 
a  pretty  scene,  and  the  mother  was  so  amused  at  my  inter- 
est, but  nothing  checked  the  little  boy  from  his  eating. 
(They  pay  seventy-five  cents  a  month  for  rent ;  hence  living 
is  cheap. )     I  have  a  set  of  doll  dishes,  which  will  make 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


everything  much  plainer.  I  purchased  them  for  about 
three  cents  at  a  toy  shop.  The  bamboo  with  which  they 
work  must  be  very  old  —  a  hundred  years  or  more.  They 
get  it  from  old  country  houses.  It  takes  one  man  a 
week  to  make  one  small  set  of  boxes,  but  it  is  very  fine 
work.  Just  across  the  way  I  went  into  an  ivory  work- 
shop, and  saw  pieces  of  carving  some  of  which  required 
several  months  each  for  making  and  finishing.  It  would 
astonish  you  to  see  the  number  of  tools  they  must  use. 
Two  men  were  each  making  tiny  groups  of  monkeys,  re- 
productions of  "the  blind,  the  deaf,  and  the  dumb" 
monkeys,  a  famous  group  at  Nikko.  These  were  working 
by  the  piece  and  not  by  the  day.  In  the  afternoon  Mrs. 
Nitobe  went  with  me  to  see  some  of  the  shops.  Oh  !  oh  ! 
oh  !  How  you  would  have  enjoyed  it  !  I  did  want  to 
spend  a  thousand  dollars  right  off!  First  the  embroider- 
ies—  such  ex(|uisite  work  on  linen,  silk  or  velvet.  It  is 
wonderful  how  they  will  make  elaborate  copies  of  pictures 
complete  in  color  and  design.  One  sees,  too,  such  rich 
goods  in  silks  of  every  kind,  and  doylies  to  your  heart's 
content.  From  there  I  went  to  a  lacquer  shop.  I  have 
no  idea  how  many  kinds  of  laquer  there  are  —  and  how 
beautiful  it  is  (some  of  it,  for  some  of  it  is  quite  beyond 
me).  One  sees  there  the  twenty  stages  or  processes  the 
wood  has  to  go  through  in  being  lacquered,  and  then  the 
six  other  stages,  when  the  decoration  is  put  on.  No  won- 
der the  good  lacquer  costs  money  !  Two  people  stopping 
here  at  the  hotel  were  looking  at  some  small  pieces  costing 
from  thirty  to  fifty  dollars.  The  chrysanthemum  design  is 
especially  pretty  in   the  way   they  use  it.      But  the   true 

lOI 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


Japanese  insists  that  he  must  have  old  lacquer.  Like  good 
wine,  he  will  trust  it  only  when  there  is  age  upon  it.  I 
saw  some  rich  old  lacquer  at  the  art  museum,  and  some 
of  it  was  beautiful,  and  some  quite  out  of  my  reach.  From 
there  we  went  to  the  Girls'  School  of  the  Doshisha,  meet- 
ing there  a  Miss  Denton,  who  knows  all  about  Middle- 
bury,  being  a  niece  of  Prof  Parker.  Coming  back  in  the 
riksha,  I  met  a  woman  with  coal  black  teeth,  the  real  ar- 
ticle, quite  in  keeping  with  what  my  school  geographies 
used  to  tell  me.  The  two  people  at  the  hotel  who  were 
buying  lacquer  to-day  at  the  shop,  had  been  through  the 
whole  San  Francisco  earthquake  and  fire,  and  lost  all  their 
things.  One  of  them  was  showing  me  a  lot  of  pictures 
she  had  taken  of  the  scenes.  By  the  way,  if  the  mission- 
aries in  America  want  to  do  one  service  for  Japan,  they 
might  club  together  and  send  about  two  hundred  million 
handkerchiefs  to  the  children  of  this  country.  The  people 
are  wonderfully  clean,  but  the  children's  noses  do  need 
attending  to.  Some  of  them  evidently  get  wiped  once  a 
day,  when  the  little  ones  get  their  baths.  The  only  hand- 
kerchiefs they  use  here  are  of  paper,  and  these  are  used 
only  among  the  better  classes.  Happily  the  riksha  men 
carry  a  kind  of  towel,  with  which  they  frequently  mop 
their  faces,  and  they  must  do  it  often  when  pulling  me,  for 
my  avoirdupois  is  not  the  same  as  that  of  the  Japanese. 


J 

y  \     1 

■.'  ,'*^v'|?Jll--.-^>; 

i 

^^«?r^ 

kL>.^^HkI^^^1 

"5; 

^ 

■*' , 

■§ 

^ 

JV 

1 

1 

f       ■fS|'|?i;r.. 

i 

f  J 

THIRTEENTH   LETTER 


Kyoto 
Friday  evening,  July  6th. 


*  *  *  * 


I 


T  would  startle  you  to  catch  a  look  at  me  to-night.  I 
am  lobster-red  from  a  trip  into  the  country,  to  make 
the  famous  descent  of  the  rapids.  An  Englishman'  from 
Hong  Kong  and  I  each  took  riksha  men,  and  went  fifteen 
miles  into  the  country  to  the  mountains.  It  was  first 
through  the  roadless  rice-fields,  over  paths  wide  enough  for 
hand-carts,  but  not  for  teams.  The  mountain  scenery 
quite  suggested  Vermont,  though  the  landscape  is  quite 
different,  of  course,  and  far  more  picturesque,  with  pine 
groves  and  clumps  of  bamboo,  and  thatched  cottages  scat- 
tered everywhere.  The  Nitobes'  adopted  son,  Yoshio,  the 
nicest  sort  of  a  fourteen-year-old  gentlemanly  boy,  went 
with  us  on  his  wheel.  We  went  over  a  range  of  hills,  and  came 
to  Komeoka.  We  asked  Yoshio  how  long  it  took  a  bamboo 
tree  to  grow  as  high  as  a  telegraph  pole,  and  he  said 
about  a  year  and  a  half.  It  seemed  fairly  startling.  He 
said  there  was  a  story  about  a  Japanese  man  who  lay  down 
to  sleep,  leaving  his  hat  hanging  on  a  bamboo,  and  when 
he  woke  up,  the  hat  was  out  of  his  reach.  I  could  well 
believe  it.  We  stopped  at  an  inn  and  ate  lunch  which  we 
had  taken  with  us,  and  then  hired  a  boat  to  take  us  down 
the  stream  with  four  men.  We  got  in,  rikshas  and  all, 
and  it  was  really  quite  an  exciting  experience.  You  would 
have  fairly  screamed  with  terror,  though  it  was  safe  enough. 

103 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


The  stream  (about  200  feet  wide),  winds  down  a  narrow 
valley,  with  mountains  close  on  either  side,  and  every  few 
moments  it  dashes  in  torrents  down  over  rocks  in  quite  a 
thrilling  way.  I  never  before  knew  what  rapids  really 
were.  The  ride  lasted  about  two  hours,  and  made  a  beau- 
tiful trip  ;  but  it  was  baking  hot,  without  a  breath  of  air, 
and  that  is  how  I  got  so  scorched.  At  the  end  of  the  trip, 
as  we  were  still  in  the  gorge,  Yoshio  and  I  went  for  a 
swim,  and  it  was  most  refreshing.  I  hesitated  at  first,  in 
fear  lest  people  might  come  along  on  the  opposite  bank, 
but  Yoshio  reminded  me  that  I  was  in  Japan,  and  that  if 
people  did  come  along,  they  would  think  nothing  of  it. 
There  was  another  riksha  ride  of  seven  or  eight  miles, 
bringing  me  back  about  4. 30.  I  had  some  tea,  and  took  a 
look  at  myself  in  the  mirror.  I  was  a  sight  to  behold. 
Kyoto  is  a  hot  place  and  no  mistake,  with  no  breezes  to 
cool  the  air,  yet  it  is  most  interesting.  We  do  not  have 
dinner  until  7.30,  when  the  air  has  changed  a  good  deal. 
I  ordered  some  barley-water  to  drink  yesterday,  as  the 
Kyoto  water  is  not  safe.  With  calm  assurance  they  said, 
yes — nothing  seems  to  "  phaze  "  a  Japanese.  But  it  turned 
out  to  be  thick  barley  soup.  This  morning  I  asked  the 
"boy"  (everybody  is  "boy"  here,  except  the  proprie- 
tor, it  would  seem)  if  he  spoke  English.  He  said,  yes. 
So  I  told  him  to  take  a  package  of  films  to  the  kitchen, 
put  them  for  a  while  where  it  would  be  warm,  but  not  hot. 
I  repeated  the  injunction  twice,  slowly.  He  said,  yes. 
An  hour  afterwards  he  brought  them  to  me  all  taken  to 
pieces,  unwrapped,  exposed  to  the  light  and  ruined,  and 
asked  if  he  was  to  put  them  into  warm  water.     I  wanted 

104 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


to  throw  them  at  his  head,  but  it  would  have  done  no 
good.  I  suppose  it  was  this  same  kind  of  courage  or  as- 
surance (under  good  leadership)  which  defeated  the 
Russians. 

Saturday  evening. 
Think  of  the  bliss  !  I  am  right  in  the  wind  of  an 
electric  fan,  the  first  one  I  have  felt  in  Japan.  Surely, 
man  is  a  discontented  animal.  Here  am  I,  sighing  for 
the  cold  decks  of  the  steamer  on  the  Pacific.  An  Eng- 
lishman here  says  if  this  cool  (?????)  weather  keeps  up, 
he  will  go  on  to  Tokyo.  But  then  he  has  just  come  from 
Hong  Kong,  where,  as  he  says,  you  just  sit  in  your  chair 
and  perspire.  Well,  it  is  downright  sizzling,  and  no 
breezes  to  help  out.  These  templed  hills  shut  out  the 
breezes.  But  I  had  an  interesting  morning  visit  to  the 
workmen's  shops,  back  of  the  sales  shops.  I  looked  in  at 
the  cloisonne  works,  where  eight  or  ten  men  were  working 
in  metal.  I  asked  the  wages.  The  highest  was  seventy- 
five  cents  a  day.  An  American  photographer  was  taking 
a  picture  of  the  group  for  an  American  magazine,  showing 
the  various  processes.  It  makes  one  value  all  this  kind  of 
art  work  much  more,  seeing  the  delicate  labor.  I  also 
went  to  an  embroidery  factory.  To  my  surprise,  the  few 
individuals  at  work  were  men.  They  were  copying  pic- 
tures on  silk  or  velvet,  doing  pieces  each  of  which  would 
recjuire  two  or  three  months  for  completion.  They  only 
put  women  on  the  cheaper  work,  they  said.  "Highest 
wages  paid  ?  ' '  Seventy-five  cents  a  day.  At  the  bronze 
factory,  I  saw  only  one  man  at  work.      They  have  a  large 

105 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


factory  in  the  suburbs,  the  men  told  me.  But  most  inter- 
esting and  fascinating  of  all  was  \.\\q  potter^  s  wheel.  I  had 
never  seen  one,  much  as  I  have  read  of  them  in  song  and 
story.  It  was  positively  wonderful  to  see  the  man  work. 
He  took  a  big  lump  of  clay,  and  in  less  than  two  minutes 
turned  out  a  dainty  milk  pitcher,  handle  and  all,  and  in 
one  minute  more  a  pretty  bowl.  The  shape  seemed  abso- 
lutely perfect.  A  boy  turned  the  wheel  for  him  as  he 
worked.  I  shall  remember  that  forever.  I  saw  the  glaz- 
ing, designing,  coloring  and  baking  processes.  They 
make  the  finest  Satsiima  ware  —  frightfully  expensive. 
Highest  wages  paid  ?  Seventy-five  cents  to  one  dollar. 
Somehow  it  made  me  rebellious  —  I  felt  it  more  than  at 
home  —  for  this  is  the  choicest,  finest  skilled  labor.  These 
men  ought  to  be  the  gentlemen,  and  not  the  barterers  in 
the  front  part  of  the  shop  ;  they  are  the  artists,  and  de- 
serve the  rewards.  In  the  afternoon  I  went  around  for 
four  o'clock  tea  to  the  Nitobes'.  They  were  just  sending 
Yoshio  away  for  the  summer  to  a  Japanese  family,  so  that 
he  should  keep  up  his  Japanese.  We  sat  upstairs,  with  the 
study  open  on  both  sides,  looking  out  over  the  hills  and 
temples.  A  beautiful  pagoda,  not  far  away,  above  the  trees, 
made  the  landscape  most  picturesque,  and  every  now  and 
then  we  would  hear  the  sound  of  the  temple  bell  softly  in 
the  distance.  I  had  a  talk  with  Dr.  Nitobe,  who  is  a  highly 
interesting  and  cultured  man.  I  was  asking  him  especially 
about  the  religious  condition  of  Japan,  and  what  was  to  be 
the  future  of  Buddhism.  He  showed  me  a  Socialist  paper, 
published  in  Tokyo,  quite  emphatic  in  tone,  and  implied 
that  Socialism  was  spreading  here.      But  it  will  be  many 

1 06 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


years  before  it  becomes  a  serious  factor  in  this  country. 
The  government  is  wonderfully  sane,  and  may  have  the 
sense  to  adjust  itself  in  time.  They  were  telling  me  of 
two  young  people  in  love  with  one  another,  but  whose 
parents  would  not  allow  them  to  marry,  having  tied  them- 
selves together  and  hanged  themselves  on  the  hill  just 
above  the  house  a  few  days  ago.  The  usual  method,  how- 
ever, in  such  cases,  is  drowning,  they  say ;  and  so  the 
love  passion  burns  furiously  here  also  in  Japan.  I  wish  I 
could  quote  you  something  Dr.  Nitobe  read  to  me  about 
' '  The  Forgotten  Gods. ' ' 

Sunday  A.  M. 
Last  evening  a  number  of  us  at  the  hotel  clubbed  to- 
gether and  arranged  for  a  Geisha  dance  at  one  of  the  tea- 
houses. There  were  seven  of  us  in  all,  and  five  Geisha 
girls  to  perform.  It  was  novel,  but  not  exciting,  and  my 
back  did  just  ache,  sitting  on  the  floor.  The  background 
of  candles,  gold,  screens  and  color  was  pleasing.  They 
gave  us  arm-rests,  but  I  wanted  a  back-rest.  The  dancing 
is  usually  dramatic  — telling  a  story  —  hence  it  does  not 
mean  much  without  one  has  the  story.  The  girls  seemed 
like  children  —  three  of  them  being  respectively  thirteen, 
fifteen  and  sixteen.  But  it  was  novel,  and  worth  seeing 
just  once.  I  wish  you  could  walk  these  streets  and  meet 
the  ox-teams.  They  use  oxen  instead  of  horses,  but  only 
one  to  a  team,  just  as  with  the  horse-team,  and  they  pro- 
tect the  ox  from  the  sun  with  huge  fan-like  mats,  hung 
from  above.  I  forgot  to  say  that  one  of  the  performances 
of  the  Geisha   girls  was  strictly  musical,   beating  drums, 

107 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


and  other  extraordinary  ear-piercing  instruments.  We 
lived  through  it  —  and  it  was  interesting  to  see  how  won- 
derfully they  kept  together.  After  the  flag  dance,  the  girls 
sat  down  and  smoked  their  pipes  contentedly.  It  was  not 
so  dreadful.  The  pipe  only  held  as  much  tobacco  as 
you  could  balance  on  the  end  of  the  nail  of  your  little 
finger.  They  got  just  two  puffs  out  of  it,  I  believe.  It  is 
about  like  their  innocent  tea.  It  is  amusing  to  see  how 
people  spend  money  in  the  shops  here.  They  just  can't 
help  it.  The  shop  agents  hover  around  the  hotel,  and  fol- 
low people  to  their  rooms,  show  them  pretty  things,  and 
coax  them  into  buying.  I  told  the  Englishman  about  the 
bamboo-shop.  He  went  there  and  came  back  loaded 
down.  I  think  he  left  fifteen  or  twenty  dollars  at  the  shop 
before  he  got  through.  I  eat  regularly  here  four  poached 
eggs,  along  with  steak  or  chicken,  for  breakfast,  which 
shows  my  appetite  is  good.  But  then  I  am  working.  Just 
think  of  the  appetite  I  have  developed  in  writing  these 
letters  ! 


1 08 


[Photo.  Enclosed  in  Fourteenth  Letter^ 


Kyoto  Children  Playing  "Store' 


FOURTEENTH    LETTER 


Kyoto 
Monday  evening,   July  9th. 


'TpHIS  has  been  Buddhist  day.  I  called  first  on  the 
Governor  of  the  Prefecture,  who  spoke  French,  but 
no  English  (so  I  had  an  interpreter).  He  gave  me  a  good 
cigar,  for  which  I  was  grateful,  and  a  letter  to  the  High- 
Priest  (Takada)  of  the  Zen  sect.  We  had  hoped  to  meet 
the  priestess  (the  Princess  Inoue),  but  she  had  a  service 
to-day,  and  it  could  not  be  arranged.  The  interpreter 
went  with  me  to  Mr.  Takada.  We  were  ushered  in  sol- 
emnly, after  removing  our  shoes,  and  sat  in  a  room  fur- 
nished with  quaint  old  kakemonos.  It  was  the  priest's  pri- 
vate home.  I  bowed  in  my  style,  but  I  cannot  quite  bring 
myself  to  go  clear  to  the  floor,  in  fear  lest  I  might  break 
in  two.  Then,  too,  there  is  an  instinctive  rebellion  against 
stooping  beyond  a  certain  point.  However,  they  do  not 
expect  it  from  me,  fortunately.  I  asked  various  questions, 
but  the  interpreter  knew  mighty  little  of  religion,  and 
could  not  take  me  very  far.  I  was  asking  of  Nirvana. 
Apparently  neither  the  priest  nor  the  interpreter  knew  the 
word.  Later  Dr.  Nitobe  explained  it.  Their  term  is 
Nehan,  which  is  probably  Chinese  for  Nirvana.  The  lat- 
ter is  Sanskrit  (and  scarcely  any  priest  in  Japan  knows 
Sanskrit).  But  the  priest  himself  was  most  interesting  to 
watch.  I  felt  the  spirit  of  Buddhism,  just  in  looking  at 
him.      It  was  the  Asiatic  face  —  the   thin,  far-away  man- 

109 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


ner,  and  half- emaciated  features  and  chest  of  one  who 
practices  the  spiritual  life  as  they  understand  it.  Yet  he 
could  smile,  or  even  laugh,  in  his  way,  but  it  was  easy  to 
see  that  he  lived  in  another  world.  Yet  even  at  this  house 
I  was  served  with  tea,  but  am  sorry  to  say  that  the  bowl 
tasted  of  tobacco.  These  priests  eat  no  meat,  and  are 
strict  celibates,  and  are  regarded  as  the  most  profound  of 
all  the  sects  in  Japan.  I  shall  always  remember  the  inter- 
view, and  the  face  of  the  priest,  even  if  the  interpreter 
knew  as  little  of  religion  as  a  cow.  They  wear,  the  priests 
here,  usually,  a  kind  of  dark  crape,  black  or  blue-black, 
over  something  white.  In  seeing  him,  I  was  still  in  the 
presence  of  a  real  Buddhism.  In  the  afternoon  I  went 
first  through  the  streets,  picture-taking,  with  the  usual 
amusing  experiences,  and  inevitable  curiosity.  This  whole 
race  are  like  children  in  that  respect.  You  feel  it  in  every 
sort  of  a  way.  Mrs.  Nitobe  says  it  is  conspicuously  true  of 
letters  and  postals.  They  read  the  postal  cards,  and  study 
the  outsides  of  letters  to  find  out  from  whom  they  come, 
and  pry  into  things  in  every  imaginable  way  ;  so  I  give 
them  lots  of  chances  to  gratify  the  passion  while  I  take 
pictures.  Sometimes  people  are  immensely  pleased  to 
have  their  pictures  taken  ;  sometimes  they  run.  Finally  I 
went  to  call  on  another  priest  of  the  same  sect  as  Dr. 
Nanjio  of  Tokyo.  He  spoke  English,  and  I  learned  a 
good  deal  from  him.  I  began,  of  course,  about  transmi- 
gration. It  is  a  good  starter.  He  used  the  mats  on  the 
floor  for  figurative  purposes.  I  told  him  I  was  a  teacher  of 
ethics.  Oh,  yes,  he  said,  and  smiled  ;  so  does  Buddhism 
teach ;  but  ethics  goes  from   this   life   to   that  life,  while 

no 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


Buddhism  takes  you  back  further  (pointing  to  the  floor), 
in  addition  to  the  other  mat,  and  carries  you  forward  fur- 
ther, to  the  mat  next.  He  was  explaining  to  me  the  dis- 
tinction between  his  sect  and  the  Zen  sect.  The  latter  be- 
lieves in  self-help —  saving  oneself ;  his  sect  teaches  that 
help  or  salvation  comes  from  Buddha.  "You  pray  to 
Buddha?"  I  asked.  Yes.  "  To  the  man  Buddha  ?"  Oh, 
no,  not  at  all — to  Amita  Buddha.  "Then  what  was 
Gautama  Buddha?"  He  was  simply  a  manifestation,  or 
an  incarnation,  of  Amita  Buddha.  We  pray  to  Amita 
Buddha,  just  as  the  Christian  prays,  not  to  the  man  Christ, 
but  to  Christ  as  the  manifestation  of  God.  "Then,  is 
Amita  Buddha  about  the  same  as  what  we  mean  in  the 
West  by  the  word  God  ?' '  Yes,  a  good  deal  the  same,  he 
thought.  It  was  growing  interesting.  I  asked  him,  "  Do 
you  believe  in  pre-existence?"  Yes,  certainly;  he  was 
sure  he  had  lived  before,  and  would  live  again.  "  Do  you 
teach  of  heaven  and  hell  ?"  Yes.  "  And  may  a  man  rise 
from  the  one,  or  fall  from  the  other  ?' '  Yes,  he  answered. 
Hell,  he  explained,  is  a  stage  below  the  animal  soul,  the 
lowest  stage  to  which  a  man  could  sink.  I  felt  it  was  not 
the  crude  thing  we  ordinarily  call  transmigration  that  he 
was  expounding.  I  did  not  try  him  on  Nirvana.  He  was 
very  polite.  I  asked  him  how  old  he  was,  and  he  said 
sixty-four.  The  young  people  of  the  family  were  peaking 
around  the  corners  of  the  screens  at  me  with  persistent 
curiosity,  which  entertained  me  a  good  deal.  It  was  the 
same  naive  childishness,  though  they  were  not  children. 
I  had  more  tea,  of  course.  Fortunately,  at  both  calls  I 
was  given  a  fan.     The   fan  stage   has  arrived  in   Japan. 

Ill 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


You  see  men  going  by  with  umbrellas  over  their  heads, 
held  by  one  hand,  while  fanning  vigorously  with  the  other. 
But  they  do  not  carry  bright-colored  fans  any  more  than 
the  women  carry  bright-colored  parasols.  Those  are  for 
children.  In  that  respect  our  comic  operas  are  mislead- 
ing. It  is  the  children  who  wear  brilliant  colors,  as  Dr. 
Nitobe  says,  here.  They  dress  the  children  to  please  the 
children  (surely  not  their  heads). 

Tuesday,  on  the  train,  3  P.  M. 
Ages  about  seventeen  and  twenty-two  years  ;  hair  coal- 
black  and  plastered  flat  down  over  the  ears  —  in  one  case 
with  a  bang,  the  other  straight  back  —  held  flat  on  the 
head  behind  with  a  comb  set  with  pearls  ;  rich  gold  brace- 
lets and  rings  ;  noses  small  and  cheeks  fair,  with  high  cheek 
bones  ;  eyes  almost  protruding,  and  coal-black,  almond- 
shaped  ;  pretty  chins  ;  small,  light  figures,  rather  graceful. 
Dress,  lavender  silk,  over  black  silk  skirt  (in  one  case 
trimmed  with  blue);  shoes,  blue  silk,  about  five  inches 
long,  sharply  pointed.  Feet,  about  three  and  a  half  to 
four  inches  long ;  big,  protruding  front  foot  bones ;  with 
pretty  blue  silk  purses  and  pretty  handkerchiefs  (one  white 
embroidered  silk,  the  other  blue-edged  linen),  both  quite 
pretty.  Rather  tnessy  in  eating,  spilling  things  around. 
One  of  them  expectorates  into  a  cuspidor,  like  a  man. 
Maid  kept  constantly  busy  looking  after  them,  especially 
the  younger  one.  Father  tall,  dressed  in  long,  light-blue 
silk  nightgown  over  lavender  pajamas.  Head  shaved  half- 
way back,  long  pigtail  hanging  down  behind.    Family  evi- 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


dently  rich  and  important  ;  style  the  very  antithesis  of  the 
Japanese. 

What  does  the  above  describe?  It  was  what  I  was 
watching  with  amusement  on  the  opposite  seat  out  of  the 
corner  of  my  eye  for  half  the  morning  on  the  railway 
train  —  chop-sticks  and  lunch-box  included.  The  maid, 
fat  and  chubby,  with  big  feet,  feeds  the  fair-cheeked  one, 
and  on  the  sly  tosses  the  banana-peels  under  the  seat.  They 
are  gone  now,  and  left  their  tea-pot  behind  them,  with 
dim  visions  of  stale  banana-peel  to  greet  my  eye  as  I  look 
that  way.  My  neighbor,  a  scholarly  Japanese,  takes  off 
his  black  silk  wrapper  {haoH),  folds  it  as  carefully  as  a 
lady  would  do,  and  puts  it  away  in  his  valise,  takes  off  his 
shoes,  and  settles  down  to  a  book  in  tea-chest  ciphers. 
Two  officers  in  dull  yellow,  with  spurs  on  their  shoes, 
which  they  have  taken  off  (one  in  bare  feet),  are  sound 
asleep.  Another  Japanese,  dressed  like  an  American,  in 
light  summer  suit,  is  also  asleep.  Each  person  with  his 
tea-pot  (including  myself)  under  his  seat,  and  getting  it 
filled,  occasionally,  out  of  the  window,  for  two  sen  —  one 
cent.  Floor  in  a  condition  which  would  make  you  shud- 
der and  draw  your  feet  up  under  you  like  a  Japanese  lady, 
so  as  to  keep  clean  (strewn  with  shoes,  sandals,  spilled 
tea,  etc.).  Each  person  is  given  a  fan  and  sandals  by  the 
youth  who  acts  as  porter,  and  who  is  most  polite  and 
obliging.  Have  just  come  back  from  getting  some  after- 
noon tea  in  the  dining  car,  and  am  hoping,  if  the  weather 
keeps  fair,  to  have  a  view  of  the  glorious  Fugi  by  and  by. 
It  has  been  a  beautiful  day,  with  glorious  scenery.  Have 
been  on  the  other  side  of  the   car,    and   have  had  even 

"3 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


more  beautiful  landscapes  than  I  had  coming  down  a  week 
ago.  Am  writing  on  my  valise  for  a  desk,  and  all  is 
wobbly.  I  wish  it  were  possible  for  me  to  describe  to  you 
a  novel  experience  of  Sunday  evening.  The  Nitobes  in- 
vited me  to  a  "  court  dinner."  There  is  living  in  Kyoto 
the  son  of  the  caterer  who  used  to  serve  the  Emperor  and 
his  family,  and  he  serves  dinner  (by  special  order)  in  the 
exact  style  in  which  his  father  used  to  serve  the  Mikado  in 
the  old  days.  It  was  up-stairs  in  a  tea-house  or  restaurant. 
The  other  guests  included  Prof.  Lombard,  dean  of  the  Do- 
shisha  College ;  a  Dr.  Saiki,  an  eminent  physician  of 
Kyoto ;  Mrs.  Nitobe  ;  and  a  Mr.  Beddinger,  teacher  in 
the  Peers'  School  in  Tokyo.  We  sat  around  on  the  floor,  of 
course,  in  our  stocking  feet.  It  was  about  seven  o'clock 
in  the  evening.  The  teacher  next  to  me  was  in  the  white, 
cool  uniform  of  his  school  ;  Dr.  Nitobe  and  Dr.  Saiki  in 
dark  kimonos,  and  Mrs.  Nitobe  in  cool  white,  American 
style.  We  each  had  fans,  and  needed  them.  But  the  fans 
the  people  use  here  are  more  subdued  in  color  than  those 
in  America.  Dr.  Nitobe  had  placed  a  vase  of  flowers  in 
front  of  a  gold  screen  to  make  them  look  as  if  they  were 
painted  there,  as  that  is  an  old  custom.  There  was  a 
kakemono  hanging  near,  decorated  with  a  spray  of  maple 
leaves,  and  suggestions  of  a  waterfall.  First  came  a  tiny 
table,  decorated  with  a  miniature  pine  tree,  and  filled  with 
what  looked  like  hard-boiled  eggs,  with  the  shells  removed, 
and  some  candy.  The  eggs  were  in  reality  pastry.  We 
began  with  sweets.  The  maid  brought  each  table  held 
high  in  the  air  (so  that  her  breath  might  not  touch  the 
food),  and  as  she  laid  each  little  table  down  before  us  she 

114 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


bowed  low  till  her  head  about  touched  the  floor.  Then 
came  table  number  two  for  each  of  us  (with  similar  bows) , 
decorated  with  a  symbol  of  the  Rising  Sun  ;  and  so  on, 
with  about  six  dishes.  One  of  raw  fish,  one  of  soup,  one 
of  lily  roots  (crowned  with  a  tiny  orange-tree),  one  of 
fried  fish,  one  with  fish  sauce,  one  cup  for  sake,  and  a  little 
tray  for  chop-sticks.  I  had  put  a  fork  in  my  pocket  on 
the  sly,  but  decided  not  to  use  it.  To  my  astonishment, 
the  nicest  dish  of  the  whole  dinner  was  the  raw  fish.  It 
was  fearful  work  with  the  chop-sticks,  but  I  hooked  things 
with  them.  The  porcelain  was  all  (with  one  conspicuous 
exception)  decorated  with  the  royal  sixteen-petaled  chrys- 
anthemum. The  tables  were  of  plain,  unvarnished  wood, 
showing  the  simplicity  of  the  old  court  life.  You  don't 
finish  one  course  and  go  on  to  the  next,  but  go  back  and 
forth  as  you  please.  Warm  sake  was  poured  —  it  is  called 
beer  (rice  beer),  but  it  is  three  times  as  strong  as  our 
beer — about  like  sherry.  Afterwards  tea  was  brought  in 
and  poured  for  us  while  the  second  table  was  on.  Finally 
came  a  third  little  table,  and  two  more  bowls  of  soup,  and 
another  fish  dish,  an  empty  bowl,  and  some  pickle,  and  a 
dish  of  jelly.  The  meat  was  diWJish,  as  you  see,  with  three 
kinds  of  soup.  This  fish  dish  was  served  with  a  spoon  in 
a  plain  earthen  bowl.  I  snatched  at  the  spoon,  and  used 
it  on  the  sly  for  everything,  for  all  three  tables  were  now 
before  me  to  eat  from  at  my  choice.  Finally  a  lacquered 
jar  was  brought  in,  and  the  empty  bowls  filled  with  rice. 
When  the  rice  was  nearly  finished,  each  bowl  was  passed 
to  the  maid,  who  poured  tea  over  it,  and  with  that  one 
was  supposed  to  finish  the  dinner.      I  have  the  first  table, 

"5 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


the  pine  tree  and  the  orange  tree  as  souvenirs  to  show  you. 
In  the  old  days  the  remnants  from  each  guest's  table  were 
wrapped  up  in  paper  for  him  to  take  home  to  his  wife  and 
children.  There  was  no  bread,  no  butter,  no  milk  served 
or  used  in  the  cooking  (so  I  understand),  also  no  water 
and  no  napkins.  Then  we  sat  around  on  the  window-sill 
(to  ease  our  knees)  and  chatted  for  a  while.  On  coming 
back  I  stopped  at  a  drug-store  for  safety's  sake,  but  came 
through  alive.     That  dinner  was  something  to  remember. 

Sunday  morning  I  visited  one  of  the  temples,  and  also 
one  of  the  lacquer  shops,  to  see  how  the  gold  work  and 
designing  is  done.  Then  I  lunched  with  Miss  Denton  of 
the  Doshisha  Girls'  School,  who  was  a  niece  of  Prof.  Par- 
ker of  Middlebury,  and  who  wanted  to  hear  about  the 
people  there.  I  was  back  in  the  primeval  atmosphere  of 
New  England  Congregationalism  as  it  was  twenty-five  years 
ago.  Then  Prof.  Hino,  of  the  Theological  Department  of 
the  Doshisha  School,  came  in  for  a  chat,  and  I  talked 
Buddhism  with  him.  I  was  much  entertained  as  he  told 
me  of  his  childhood,  and  how  his  parents  pictured  to  him 
the  horrors  of  hell  when  he  was  naughty.  His  parents 
were  Shintoists,  and  hell  is  Buddhistic  (of  the  popular 
kind),  but,  as  he  says,  among  the  people  the  two  religions 
all  run  together.  As  we  sat  talking,  there  was  a  big  thun- 
derstorm, the  first  I  have  experienced  here.  Monday 
evening  I  called  at  the  Nitobes',  to  say  good-by  to  them. 

Am  finishing  this  letter  Wednesday  evening  at  Tokyo, 
where  I  have  been  resting  up  after  seven  days  and  eight 
nights  of  fearfully  hot  weather.  It  is  delightfully  cool 
here.     I  saw  Fuji  in  its  glory  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening 

Ii6 


LETTERS   FROM  JAPAN 


from  my  train,  for  about  an  hour.  The  clouds  hung  over 
its  base,  but  it  rose  above  them  in  all  its  majesty,  a  truly 
wonderful  sight.  The  snow  was  mostly  gone  from  its  sum- 
mit. I  was  sitting  in  the  Japanese  sandals  which  the  train 
boy  had  provided,  and  they  were  very  comfortable  for  the 
feet.  I  am  bringing  a  pair  home.  I  saw  the  lotus  flower 
in  bloom  on  the  way  here.  I  wish  you  could  see  the  won- 
derful wistaria  vines  I  have  seen  in  Japan  —  some  of  them 
over  one  hundred  years  old,  and  simply  enormous.  A.  C. 
H.  came  over  this  morning  to  help  me  pack.  I  leave  to- 
morrow for  Northern  Japan  to  visit  Sendai. 


117 


HPI 

^^^^^^^r^^:r^frimfy                 M 

^J^P^-^f^     a| 

^^^^^H|^>vH^^^P              "~^ 

^^^^^^^^^^k^    "'^C"'^             M 

^^^mm^ 

Hh 

t 

■  -  ci 


FIFTEENTH   LETTER 


NiKKO 

Sunday  A.  M. 


■^  *  *  * 


TJERE  I  am,  in  a  regular  Japanese  drizzle.  Surely, 
they  have  no  use  for  mucilage  in  this  country  at  a 
season  like  this.  All  that  one  needs  to  do  is  to  stick  on 
the  stamp  with  one's  fingers,  and  it  will  hold  forever. 
You  get  wet  through  just  looking  at  the  water.  I  feel  like 
a  fish  breathing  under  water.  I  came  down  from  Sendai 
yesterday,  where  there  was  lots  of  rain.  The  people  there 
were  watching  the  skies  anxiously,  for  if  the  rain  keeps  up 
it  means  another  famine  here,  and  this  time,  as  the  mayor 
of  one  of  the  villages  said  to  me,  the  people  would  liter- 
ally starve  to  death.  I  left  the  Metropole  Hotel  Thursday 
morning  with  a  pang  of  regret  —  the  mosquitoes  had  tor- 
tured me  at  night,  the  fleas  had  devoured  me  by  day,  the 
bed  was  as  hard  as  a  rock,  the  table  was  very  monotonous, 
and  yet  I  look  back  upon  it  as  the  nicest,  pleasantest,  most 
homelike  hotel  I  ever  stopped  at  in  my  life.  1  shall  ad- 
vise all  the  world  to  go  there.  The  train  going  north  was 
not  quite  up-to-date.  It  was  a  combination  compartment — 
day-coach,  sleeper  and  diner — all  in  half  of  one  car,  but  1 
settled  down  to  stocking-feet  and  tea-pots  with  actual  rel- 
ish, and  quite  enjoyed  it.  We  had  slippers  instead  of  san- 
dals. I  can  pass  my  tea-pot  out  of  the  car  window  now 
like  a  veteran,  though  the  stuff  does  still  si)ill  when  you 
pour  it.     The  diner  part  of  the  car   had   only  two  seats, 

119 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


but  the  food  was  good.  I  had  omelette,  cold  meat,  beef- 
steak and  beer.  But  they  7vill  not  keep  the  beer  cold,  and 
so  it  has  to  be  iced,  like  wine  or  water.  One  man  on  the 
train  was  reading  Royce's  "  Spirit  of  Modern  Philoso- 
phy," stretched  out  comfortably  at  full  length.  As  I  got 
further  north  I  was  in  the  region  where  the  foreigner  is 
mostly  a  missionary  and  a  curiosity.  A  crowd  of  girls 
came  in  front  of  the  window  and  stared,  and  laughed  over 
me  as  if  I  were  a  giraffe.  I  laughed  back,  and  quite  en- 
joyed the  novelty.  But  it  is  well  you  did  not  come  to  Ja- 
pan. You  must  wait  ten  years.  You  really  could  not 
have  enjoyed  it.  Certain  conditions  would  have  spoiled 
all  the  pleasure  for  you.  Japan  is  still  a  masculine  world, 
though,  by  the  way  —  the  "boys"  at  this  hotel  are  nearly 
all  girls.  Two  girls  carried  up  my  trunk,  last  night,  in 
very  puffing  fashion.  It  was  nearly  as  big  as  they  were. 
I  got  to  Sendai  in  the  rain  at  night.  The  Guide  Book 
said  a  European  hotel.  You  would  have  laughed  to  see  it. 
First  I  was  put  down  on  a  mat  in  a  tea-room  to  await  de- 
velopments. Finally,  someone  who  could  talk  English 
said  that  in  an  hour  they  would  get  a  room  ready  for  me. 
So  I  had  to  take  off  my  shoes,  which  was  necessary  every 
time  I  entered  the  house,  if  I  went  up-stairs.  The  "  Euro- 
pean" part  of  the  hotel  consisted  of  a  table  and  two 
chairs.  There  was  a  bed  on  the  floor,  covered  with  a  huge 
mosquito  netting,  and  a  washstand  in  the  hall-way,  but  a 
mirror  was  nowhere  visible.  I  had  no  glimpse  of  my  face 
while  I  was  at  that  hotel.  The  walls  were  of  paper  screens. 
The  first  night  three  young  men  were  in  the  room  adjoin- 
ing,   talking  till  midnight,  and    beginning  again  at  five 

120 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


o'clock.  The  next  night  a  husband  and  wife  were  on  the 
opposite  side.  If  I  had  understood  Japanese,  I  could 
have  known  all  their  family  secrets,  beyond  a  doubt.  But 
all  went  well.  I  got  to  see  Dr.  DeForest  the  next  morn- 
ing—  an  elderly  Congregational  minister  to  whom  Mr. 
Tucker  had  given  me  an  introduction.  The  DeForests 
took  me  in  at  once  in  a  fatherly  and  motherly  way.  Dr. 
DeForest  arranged  to  go  out  to  one  of  the  villages  in  the 
country  with  me  and  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Fetters,  who  had 
just  come  over  for  missionary  work.  So  we  took  six  riksha 
men  and  off  we  went.  The  roads  were  in  bad  condition, 
so  I  set  the  fashion  of  walking  occasionally.  Dr.  DeFor- 
est wanted  to  know  who  or  what  I  was.  I  hesitated  to  tell 
him,  for  fear  of  bad  effects.  But  it  worked  the  other  way. 
What,  he  exclaimed,  you  the  man  who  has  been  lecturing 
at  Tokyo?  You  should  have  seen  his  manner  change.  He 
almost  bowed  to  the  earth,  and  half  treated  me  like  a 
prince.  A  government  guide  went  with  us.  We  came  to 
a  village  or  group  of  villages  of  about  i,ooo  houses  or 
8,000  people,  and  called  upon  the  mayor,  who  was  fairly 
appalled  at  the  distinction  of  our  visit.  But  he  gave  us  a 
lot  of  information.  About  one-half  of  the  people  of  that 
village  had  been  receiving  relief.  At  first  some  had  gone 
three  days  without  food,  and  still  more  were  getting  only 
one  slim  meal  a  day,  yet  no  one  had  actually  died  of  star- 
vation ;  though  they  were  anxious  now,  lest  disease  should 
break  out  from  the  after  effects.  The  figures  showed  that 
^70  had  come  to  that  village  from  the  American  relief 
fund.  Dr.  DeForest  had  told  me  how  wonderfully  efficient 
the  government  had  been  in  managing  the  relief,  just  as 

121 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


with  everything  else  here.  There  had  been  no  pauperiz- 
ing. Public  works  had  been  instituted,  by  which  the  peo- 
ple could  labor,  or  earn  something  when  possible.  The 
left-over  army  rations  had  been  turned  to  great  use  (I  am 
bringing  a  sample  home  with  me).  The  speculators  had 
forced  up  the  price  of  rice,  but  the  government  flooded 
the  market  with  rice  from  foreign  sources,  and  brought 
the  prices  even  lower  than  usual.  I  saw  the  bags  of  it  at 
the  government  headquarters  ;  also  quantities  of  the  "  hard 
tack"  (army  rations).  The  mayor  said  the  average  wage 
for  unskilled  labor  in  the  village  was  twelve  and  a  half 
cents  a  day.  There  are  about  3,000  acres  of  arable  land 
around  the  village,  about  one-half  owned  by  the  villagers 
and  one-half  outside  by  landlords.  The  latter  is  worked 
on  shares  by  the  peasants.  A  few  families  had  been  broken 
up,  but  not  many,  and  crime  had  not  increased.  Dr.  De- 
Forest  said  that  during  the  worst  of  the  famine  there  would 
have  been  no  sign  of  it  to  the  external  eye.  Then  the 
mayor  took  us  to  see  the  homes  of  some  of  the  poorest 
people  who  had  received  relief.  They  all  looked  pretty 
poor.  I  took  several  pictures,  and  the  mayor  told  the  his- 
tory of  several  of  the  families  to  Dr.  DeForest,  who  inter- 
preted to  me.  The  people  seemed  perfectly  willing  to  be 
visited.  The  homes  did  look  squalid  and  pathetic.  We 
went  into  the  school  house  —  a  fine  new  building — and 
ate  our  lunch  there.  Around  the  walls  hung  the  pictures 
used  in  the  "  Ethics  Lessons  "  everywhere  in  Japan.  The 
children  were  practicing  gymnastics  in  the  back  yard. 
Finally  we  said  good-by  to  the  mayor  and  rode  back. 
The  rain  had  fortunately  held  up    till  evening.      I  took 

122 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


dinner  with  the  DeForests,  and  was  glad  to  get  a  New 
England  meal.  It  was  a  pleasant  home.  Sendai  has  more 
Christians  than  any  other  city  in  Japan,  I  believe,  in  pro- 
portion to  its  size.  There  are  four  self-supporting  churches 
there.  Dr.  DeForest  showed  me  a  Japanese  bath-tub,  the 
first  I  had  seen.  So  far  the  missionaries  have  impressed 
me  favorably.  It  was  raining  again  yesterday.  When  I 
offered  the  young  man  who  had  been  interpreter  fifty 
cents  he  declined  to  receive  it.  He  said  he  was  connected 
with  the  hotel ;  so  I  told  him  to  give  it  to  Dr.  DeForest 
for  the  famine  fund.  I  had  a  whole  coupd  and  boy  to  ray- 
self  yesterday  to  Nikko.  This  time  there  was  no  dinner. 
I  had  miscalculated.  Finally  I  tried  to  get  some  boiled 
eggs.  A  man  brought  me  some,  and  I  took  them  in  tri- 
umph, thinking  I  was  safe  till  night  —  but  it  turned  out 
they  were  raw.  However,  the  boy  warmed  them  in  some 
hot  water,  and  I  was  glad  to  stay  my  hunger  with  them. 
(I'm  traveling  now  with  flea-powder.  )  The  bed  last  night 
beat  anything  for  humps  I  have  ever  experienced.  Well, 
I  will  stop  now,  and  take  a  stroll  in  the  rain.  This  is  the 
beautful  and  famous  Nikko.  In  five  days  I  shall  be  on  the 
journey  starting  homeward.  This  letter  may  get  there 
after  I  do. 


123 


SIXTEENTH    LETTER 


NiKKO 
Monday,  July  i6th. 


*  *  *  * 


'IpAKE  it  all  together,  it  can  rain  more  here  in  twenty- 
four  hours  than  anywhere  else  on  the  globe  —  at  least 
judging  from  the  parts  of  the  globe  I  happen  to  have  seen — 
and  they  say  it  has  been  raining  here  since  last  Thursday. 
Why  it  is  that  the  valley  is  not  full  up  to  the  top  of  the 
mountains,  and  it  has  not  emptied  on  all  the  rest  of  the 
islands  and  buried  them  under  the  sea,  I  cannot  under- 
stand. This  is  not  the  * '  rainy  season' '  —  this  is  the  Deluge. 
And  yet,  in  between  the  showers,  yesterday,  I  saw  enough 
to  discover  that  Nikko  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  spots 
on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Nature  and  art  unite  to  make  of 
it  a  Florence  and  an  Interlaken  combined.  I  went  up  in  a 
riksha  along  a  rushing  mountain  stream,  with  glimpses  of 
mountains  on  either  side,  and  old  shrines  here  and  there 
along  the  way.  Across  the  torrent  I  saw  cut  in  the  rock 
in  one  place  an  image  of  Buddha,  and  a  line  of  statues 
reaching  out  from  there  in  quaint  fashion,  all  of  them 
much  worn  by  the  elements.  Wherever  one  stops  one  has 
to  sit  down  and  take  tea,  which  is  in  place  of  drinking 
water.  When  it  rained,  I  would  put  up  the  top  of  the 
riksha,  and  when  it  stopped  I  would  open  it  again.  I 
walked  first  down  through  the  village,  stopping  at  a 
shop  to  see  the  beautiful  samples  of  wood-carving  done 
here.     It  was  novel  to  see  a  father  at  the  bench  with  his 

125 


LETTERS   FROM   JAPAN 


two  sons  (one  of  them  about  nine  years  old),  all  working 
at  the  same  trade.  As  I  was  afraid  of  the  drinking  water,  I 
stopped  at  an  inn  (labeled  "Palace  Hotel")  and  got  some 
tea  ("  cha  ;"  I  have  learned  that  word,  and  "  Ko-cha  " 
for  black  tea).  Near  the  station  it  began  to  come  down 
in  torrents  ;  so  I  took  two  men  and  a  riksha  and  went  on 
my  journey  till  lunch  time.  (Have  had  the  springs  taken 
out  of  my  bed.  There  are  no  mosquitoes  here,  but  there 
are  fleas  —  confound  them  ! )  In  the  afternoon  I  strolled 
up  on  the  hill  among  the  temples.  They  are  the  finest  in 
Japan  and  gloriously  located.  No  wonder  the  Japanese 
smile  at  our  having  called  this  country  a  home  of  barbarians 
fifty  years  ago,  with  an  art  work  which,  of  its  kind,  rivals 
that  of  Greece  when  Greece  was  at  her  best.  Am  writing 
on  the  porch,  watching  and  listening  to  the  Deluge.  Have 
sent  my  camera  to  the  kitchen,  and  put  my  remaining  films 
in  the  dark  room  of  the  photographer  across  the  way,  to 
save  them,  if  possible.  I  suspect  all  my  clothes  will  be 
mildewed  or  rotten  by  the  time  1  get  home.  Jerusalem  ! 
How  it  does  pour  down  !  One  can  hardly  hear  oneself 
speak  aloud.  I  am  glad  I  am  on  a  hill,  and  cannot  drown 
right  off,  anyway.  The  fishes  must  like  this  —  but  just 
now  I  don't. 

Tuesday  afternoon, 
I  was  right.  As  I  wrote  A.  C  H.,  this  is  not  the 
rainy  season  —  ''this  is  the  Deluge."  The  breakwater, 
which  the  villagers  had  built  with  such  tremendous  pa- 
tience, gave  way  yesterday  morning,  and  the  river  turned 
into  a  roaring  flood.      I  never  saw  the  like.     Banks  were 

126 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


torn  away ;  the  road  by  which  we  came  to  the  hotel  is 
gone  as  if  it  had  never  existed.  Houses  have  disappeared, 
bridges  have  been  swept  away.  The  whole  village  was 
out  in  tremendous  excitement.  I  saw  one  man  lying  dead, 
killed,  I  believe,  by  a  falling  pole.  We  were  not  allowed 
to  cross  the  main  bridge  in  the  riksha,  for  fear  it  might 
give  way,  and  we  would  be  hemmed  inside.  And  still  the 
rain  torrents  come  down.  Two  young  men  started  for  a 
distant  lake,  got  within  a  mile  of  the  place,  and  the  bridge 
was  gone.  On  returning,  the  bridge  was  gone  at  the 
other  end,  where  they  had  crossed  in  the  morning  ;  so  the 
coolies  improvised  poles,  and,  at  the  risk  of  their  lives, 
the  fellows  crawled  over  to  the  other  side.  I  traveled 
around  in  the  rain  in  a  riksha  in  the  morning,  going  to 
see  one  of  the  great  temples,  and  saw  the  famous  "blind 
and  deaf  and  dumb  monkeys"  in  wood  carving.  They  are 
supposed  neither  to  see,  nor  hear,  nor  speak,  evil.  In  the 
afternoon,  in  a  lull  in  the  storm,  I  went  down  along  the 
river,  to  see  the  awful  wreckage.  It  is  interesting  to  see 
the  excitement  of  the  people.  It  seemed  more  like  a  tre- 
mendous novelty  to  them  than  a  disaster.  It  rained  most 
of  the  night,  but  cleared  off  this  morning,  bright  and 
hot,  without  a  breath  of  air  stirring. 

Tuesday  evening. 
Have  visited  temples  and  traversed  the  country  gen- 
erally to-day,  up  and  down  the  river  and  in  among  the 
templed  groves.  No  language  can  picture  the  beautiful 
effect  of  the  dark  roofs  of  the  temples,  rich  with  gilding, 
the  red  beams  below,    the  occasional    pagodas,   the  bell 

127 


LETTERS   FROM    JAPAN 


towers,  the  beautiful  gateways  —  all  in  a  magnificent  set- 
ting of  dark  cryptomerias.  These  trees,  many  of  them, 
must  have  been  standing  when  the  temples  were  first 
erected,  some  two  hundred  years  ago.  I  have  not  tried  to 
distinguish  one  from  another,  or  to  know  them  architec- 
turally —  but  I  wonder  where  they  got  the  idea  of  red  for 
the  rich  coloring,  and  what  first  suggested  the  bell.  From 
the  hotel  I  hear,  every  now  and  then,  the  deep,  solemn 
notes  of  the  temple  bells,  as  I  did  at  Kyoto —  only  they 
seem  more  impressive  here,  along  with  this  beautiful  natu- 
ral scenery.  The  wreckage  of  the  storm  is  a  wonderful 
sight.  This  afternoon  I  was  down  at  the  station,  and 
found  that  the  breakwater  had  given  way  there,  too.  The 
tracks  were  flooded,  and  they  were  expecting  the  station 
to  be  washed  away.  The  excitement  in  the  hamlet  is  tre- 
mendous. Work  seems  to  have  stopped,  as  they  stand  in 
crowds  and  watch  the  river,  and  the  little  boys  and  girls 
go  running  around,  lifting  their  one  garment  above  their 
hips,  fanning  themselves,  and  keeping  cool  and  jolly  in 
the  midst  of  the  excitement. 

Well,  this  is  the  end  of  my  visit  to  Japan.  I  have 
gained  a  great  deal  from  it  —  far  more  than  I  expected. 
Wednesday  I  shall  spend  mostly  in  traveling,  Thursday  in 
Kamakura  with  A.  C.  H. ,  by  the  sea-shore,  and  Friday 
noon  I  sail  for  home.  My  clothes  hang  loosely  on  me.  It 
has  been  hard  work.     I  want  a  good  long  rest. 


^w/» 


b 


128 


^^l■llBRARYd?/^ 


^^lllBKARYQr 


>&Aavaan-# 


.^'rt^uNlv^Ki/A 


^'^myi^    \^i\m\^'^       ^J'iuoNvso^^ 

^.OFCAllFOff^      ^OFCAllFOftj|>^         ^^WE  UNIVERS/^ 


<riijoi(vso\^ 


o  ^ 


"^/jajMNaa^w^ 


^lOSANCflfj> 


"^AHiAINflJWV 


.\WFUNIVERy/A. 


^ME•l)NIVERS//, 


^lOSANCElfx> 


^lOSANCElfx^ 
o 


%a3AINA-.?\<^ 


^>^IIIBRARYQ^. 


-v^lllBRARYQr^ 


"^AaJAINdJWV^         ^OJITVDJO^      \^i\mi^ 


^OFCAIIFOI!!^ 

m 


^OFCAIIFO^'^ 


^^AJttvnan# 


A^lllBRARY<9/c^       ^UIBRARYQ^ 


^ 


^OFCAIIFO«»^      ^OFCAllFORj^ 


^(?Aavaan#      ^<?Aavnan-3:^ 


.^\\E•UNIVER% 
>- 


.^WE^)NlVERy/A 


o 


^lOSANCElfx^ 
"^AaJAINHlWV^ 


^lOSANCElfj"^ 


%I13AIN(13WV 


^^WE•^JNIVER%       ^lOS|ANCEl£r^ 


^VUBRARY^/^      c^^'i"^"''^3^ 


\^t  IG^I  WH I  WIT  I 


'11  yy^'  747  929  5 


CO 

so 

'^iJfOJIlVDiO'^  ^TillONVSOl^        "^/^aaAINfllWV^ 


^'-^-/^ 


<*  J  u  jnv'wr 


A^lllBKAKTf 


\omyi^ 


^OFCAllFOff^ 


5 


5j\MlniiVFPr/>. 


Mmwr.Flfr. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  f  ACIUTY 


%. 


AA    001  108  464   7 


.^OFCAIIFO/!: 


^OAHVHan-i^ 


"^/saaAiNnjwv^ 


^^UUBRARYOC 


^^JUVDJO"^ 


%)jnvDjo>^ 


,\\\LiJMvER5; 
<J?13DKYS0V 


■nn 


^lOSANCHfj-^ 

o 


"^/^WAINn-lttV** 


^OFCAlIFOff^       ^OFCAllFOftj^ 


<riU3NVS0V 


.^!rttUNIVtRi/A 


^lUSANCnfJ^ 


<riU!wvsov"<^ 


.\WtlINIVER5/A 


^Aa3AINn3WV^ 

^lOSANCElCf^ 

o 


<^uoNysov'^ 


"^/saaAiNdJWv 


'li!8RARY( 


^*0JI1V3JC 
fCAllFO^ 


^-^o-mmfi 


y^^fZ-j.        A>:lOSANCFlfJ>.  ^lUBRARYOc.       -?NNlUBRARYQr 

rs  lor-l  iiinrl  IiktI 


Mrtkl)NI\: 


l?< 


